The Moon Rises when the Sun Sets
by JapanDreamer09
Summary: Moving to Alola was the last thing Moon desired. All he wanted was to become the next Kanto Pokémon Champion. However, when he was suddenly (and accidentally) thrown into a conspiracy, he is forced to take action and slowly learns that there is more to becoming a trainer than meets the eye. The sun may set in Alola, but the duty of the guardian continues on through the night.
1. The Start

Hello reader. For those who are unfamiliar with my works, I am **JapanDreamer09,** but you can call me **JD**. I have been writing as a hobby for quite a few years now, and it is something I enjoy very much. I am mostly a third person writer, and before anybody asks, my updates are random. Sometimes, I update a lot; sometimes I'm dormant for a while. However, unless I mention it in my **Author Notes** or in the description of the story, I will continue to update. All I ask is a little patience.

Now for those who know me and my works, yes, I am doing another new story, and this time, it is based on Pokémon Sun and Moon – the newest game out currently as I write this. However, don't worry; my other stories will be updated at the same pace. This story is merely a test trial. I will explain more what this means in the **Author's Notes** so please take a look at it afterwards.

Thank you and enjoy!

 **Chapter 1:**

Gloria Moon could be seen tonight walking down the sidewalk and carrying empty cardboard boxes in her arms. _It was a good thing that the supermarket had a lot of these lying around_ , she thought as she continued back home. The sun was already setting, and the sky was turning into an inky purple. Street lights helped light up the walkway until she reached her house. A pair of eyes followed her movements before it jumped off the front porch and greeted her.

"Hi Meowth, going exploring again?" The cat Pokémon purred and rubbed against her ankles before setting off into the bushes. Continuing up the front steps, Gloria fished out her keys from her pocket to unlock the door.

"I'm home!" However, she was greeted with silence. Taking off her took off her shoes, she saw light coming from the kitchen and sighed.

Here they go again. She walked in and saw her eleven-year old son reading a comic book at the small wooden table located in the middle of the room. He didn't look up and give her his usual greeting; his black headphones were glued to his ears and his eyes focused on the colorful pages. Open boxes laid everywhere, half-full of contents that needed to be wrapped and carefully placed.

"Liam." She went up and sat down next to him. "I'm back." She gently touched his shoulders, but her son flinched away. His blue-grey eyes glared at her brown eyes, but she refused to back down. Her son had refused to talk to her for three weeks, and she was not going to let it continue for four. After staring for what seemed to be an eternity, Liam slowly pulled off his headphones. "Welcome back mom," he finally replied and turned back to his readings, clearly stating that he was in no mood to talk.

"Liam, how was school," she asked tentatively.

"Jason and them threw me a farewell party," Liam said flatly. "We all hung out at the arcade afterwards. They gave me this." He showed her his wrist which had a yellow Pikachu watch. "It is a limited edition watch from the Proteam Omega show."

"I see. How nice…" Liam responded by flipping another page in his comic book.

"What do you want for dinner?" Gloria asked, finally breaking the silence again. "We can order whatever you want."

"I already ate."

"Okay… then I have some pamphlets here you can look at." She took out colorful brochures with tropical theme pictures. "There are a lot of fun things you can do. Is there anything that interests you?"

"No thanks mom."

"Okay," Gloria repeated, trying hard to be patient, "Have you finish packing?"

"Not yet."

"Liam, we're moving in two days."

"I'll do it later."

"Liam," she sighed, "it'll be fun. Alola is a beautiful place with a lot of wonderful people!"

"We're moving to an island region that named itself after a greeting. Not really creative if you ask me," Liam scowled, refusing to look up from his comic book.

"You said you always wanted to go there and see the Alola Pokémon."

"Yeah, like on vacation. Or maybe on a field trip with friends. I didn't want us to drop everything and just move there."

"I know this whole process has been hard on you, and I understand your frustration…"

"Really? You understand?" Liam looked up and glared at his mom again, "I have friends here mom! And now I can't even go on my own Pokémon journey with them! They don't have gym leaders there. I'll be the only one without gym badges, and I can't participate in the Pokémon League. Didn't you think of that before you decided to announce this to my face?!"

"Liam!" However, her son got up from the table and stalked up to his room. She could hear the door slam and a loud click.

Gloria sighed and stared at the brochures laid abandoned on the table. Each picture showed people smiling as they spent their time playing in the waters or riding on a Pokémon like Tauros. There was even tour guide information about a new facility dedicated to preserve wildlife by protecting and sheltering wild Pokémon.

' _Guaranteed fun for the whole family!'_

If only that included unhappy children moving there…

 **Author's Notes**

Hmph, looks like things aren't really going off at a good start in the Moon family.

So, like quite a few of my friends, I got hooked on the Sun and Moon game, and obviously, my writer side was begging me to turn the game into a story like I have done previously. Of course, I had two choices at this stage – either write a whole bunch and just let it sit in my computer for my own enjoyment or write a whole bunch and post what I've written onto fanfic. Obviously I chose the latter and here we are.

So, what is the **important news** about this story? Well, Sun and Moon's continuation will be based on viewership/reviews/votes. In other words, **whether or not this will get updated often depends on how many people would like to see more.** To know this, I need readers to tell me. I will even post up a poll on my profile page for those who wish to remain anonymous.

If I don't see much interest, then the story will be on the bottom of my 'top priority' stories to write. Regardless of consent, Sun and Moon story will update, but how often depends on the readers.

I am posting a total of two chapters, regardless of viewership, which includes this chapter. Afterwards, I will put Sun and Moon story on hold for a while unless I see some response form the readers on their opinions to continue forward.

Thank you all for reading and expect chapter 2 to come out very soon.

 **-JapanDreamer**


	2. The Grand Escape

Hi everybody! Like I promise, Chapter 2 is posted.

Remember, the fate of this story rests in your hands (so to speak of course). I didn't get many people voting in the 'Should I continue this story' poll or opinions of continuation so currently; this story is considered 'low priority'. Remember, you can find the poll on the top of my profile page.

Enjoy!

 **Chapter 2:**

 _Six months ago…_

Despite the warm air, Lillie shivered as she waited for the platform to take her up the first floor. So far the escape plan was working. She knew that with the facility still under construction, security was lax enough for her to slip in unnoticed, but she also knew that unless she hurried out, it was only a matter of time before they realize what happened and capture her. Heart racing, she took deep breaths as she clutched her duffle bag strapped across her shoulder.

No matter what happens, she must not let them take this.

The platform finally slowed to a halt, and she found to her relief that this floor was quiet. It was a room, consisting of a beautiful jungle with a walkway for tourists and employees to navigate through. Up above, the ceiling was replaced with glass windows, allowing the moonlight to light up the dark pathway. During the day, sunlight would stream through, turning the area into a beautiful tropical paradise. However, tonight, it has become a haunted house of terror. One mishap and it was all over. Tonight, she walked carefully, trying hard not to make a sound with her white boots. Tropical trees and bushes were everywhere on the borders of the walkway, and though she couldn't see them, Lillie knew there were Pokémon fast asleep within those trees. However, they were the least of her worries. The gurgling of water from the man-made lake and the rustling of the trees seemed to amplify in her head as she nervously watched her surroundings. She had not taken more than twenty steps when…

"Found her!" Lillie turned and saw two men in pure white pointing at her. Without giving them so much as another glance, she immediately abandoned stealth mode and started running now.

"STOP!" Lillie ignored the command and continued on. The white walkway branched out every so often. To visitors the place felt like a maze, but Lillie knew this well enough to know where she needed to go. Unfortunately, so did her pursuers.

"She's heading for the northern exit!" the man shouted into his walkie-talkie. Lillie could hear them gaining on her. Her breath became shorter and shorter as she pushed herself to move faster and faster. She was halfway to her destination when she halted, realizing that there was another guard in front her, blocking her path. He, too, was dressed in white and seemed rather pleased that he had stopped her in her tracks. Panicking, she tried to run from the direction she came from but her two previous pursuers were standing there. They trapped her. She was walled off both ways with no exit.

 _No!_ Tears welled up in her eyes and her legs trembled in fear. Even though it made no difference, she clutched tightly onto her duffle bag. Desperate, she looked up at the glass ceiling for help. If only she could grow wings and fly out of here.

Suddenly, the insides of her duffle bag started to shake. A blue aurora stream of light poured out of the opening and expanded wider and wider. Before anybody could react, the light engulfed Lillie in a brilliant blue blast and she disappeared.

"W-where is she?!" The guards yelled after they recovered from the light show.

"President," one of the calmer guards spoke into the walkie-talkie. "She escaped with it."

…

Slowly coming back from unconsciousness, Lillie could hear the ocean waves in the far distance. But that was impossible… she couldn't be near a beach. She moved her hands and to her surprise, felt sand running through her fingers. A hand was gently rubbing her shoulders.

"Hey, wake up. Can you hear me?" Lillie opened her eyes and saw a middle-aged tanned woman with silver hair staring down at her with concern.

"Oh thank goodness. Are you okay? What is your name? What happened?"

All of the events came rushing back to her, and Lille struggled to her feet.

"Hey, take it easy," the lady said, but Lillie ignored her. She looked at her surroundings and saw that she was indeed on a beach. The cool air caressed her skin and tasted of the salt and summer. The small waves blanketed the sand before slowly receding back into the ocean. The beautiful moon rested on the horizon as stars twinkled against the black sky. Quickly, Lillie searched around desperately and felt relieved to see the duffle bag was still on her. However, that relief was short-lived after she checked inside.

"Hey, what do you have in- Whoa?!" The lady peeked into the bag and was startled to see the content. "What is that? I-Is that a Pokémon?"

This was bad. Lillie realized now how she managed to escape from the facility, but it may have come with a terrible price. Terrified and with no choice now but to trust this stranger, Lillie turned to the lady and bowed deeply. "My name is Lillie. P-please. Please help me! Help save Nebby!"

 **Author's Notes**

Nebby? Who is this Nebby? And this Lillie, just who is she and what has she done? She took something so is she an evil criminal? So many questions and no answers at the moment. I think that's a good place to end. Lol.

Okay, more **important news**! I will be on vacation for the next couple of weeks. That's right; JD is taking a long needed vacation and will most likely be unable to respond to any messages until she gets back. No, it's not to Alola though I wouldn't mind if it was possible. I could use some warm weather right now. Lol.

So, don't freak out if I don't respond to any questions and such you send. Once I get back, I will do my best to catch up on PMs and such. I have many rough drafts of the majority of my stories and I intend to work on them and hopefully do a massive update in the near future. Fingers crossed! Happy Holidays in advance and to those who are preparing for finals, good luck studying! I wish you all the best!

Remember to give me feedback on whether you would like this story to continue as a top priority. I got some people who are interested with the first chapter, but no mention of wanting a continuation. Unless they mean the same thing? Anyways, appreciate it!

Thanks for reading.

 **-JapanDreamer**


	3. A Rock to the Face

Hi everybody! Happy belated New Years! My vacation was quite excellent and I am ready to write again.

So, based on the poll, I noticed a few people showing interest in the story, so I'm putting this story in the 'top priority' category for now. Hooray! I will do my best to update this along with my other stories which are currently being worked on. Thank you to those who voted. As a gift for the New Year, here is a long chapter.

Thank you **villomaru** for taking the time to help edit.

Enjoy!

 **Chapter 3:**

Liam Moon woke up in pain and found his Meowth perched on his chest, kneading its needle-like claws into his skin.

"Meowth!" The cat Pokémon quickly hopped off the bed and onto the wooden floor before Liam could grab a hold of it. Licking its paw nonchalantly, it stared back with a look of disdain that he recognized all too well.

"Okay, okay," Liam mumbled as he sat upright. He glanced out the window and quickly noticed the moon had replaced the sun in the night sky. He immediately groaned. How long has he been asleep? Scratching his head in frustration, he surveyed the room. Open boxes still stacked up against the wall, filled with clothes, books, and toys that needed to be put away. The few pieces of furniture that had been completely unpacked were his bed, desk, and a plush Ditto pillow covered with cat fur.

Feeling hot, he opened the window above his desk and felt the tropical night breeze stroke his face as it passed by. The ocean waves echoed in the distance as they crashed against the shore, and the palm trees that circled around his new home swayed in the wind.

 _I'm here. I'm actually here._ In less than 48 hours, Liam was now officially an Alolan resident. As much as he wanted to enjoy this beautiful view, he couldn't. The bitterness of moving was still there, but now, there was something else as well. A sense of uncertainty. A sense of…

"Liam!" Hearing his mother's voice from the kitchen, he sighed and left his room. The new Alolan bungalow was a far cry from his home back in Kanto. Being a one-story wooden house, each room was spacious. The tropical color scheme his mother had picked out to decorate the place would've made it a well-loved home had there not been so many boxes lying around like the ones in his room.

"Yeah, mom?" Liam asked, stifling a yawn.

"Liam, you need to stay awake or else you won't be able to sleep tonight." With her reading glasses perched on top of her voluminous brown hair, Gloria Moon looked like a long-time Alolan resident. She wore a white flower-print yellow maxi skirt and a white top. Her skin was already tanned from the sun while Liam's was still pale.

"It won't do you good if you fall asleep during the day."

"I know, I know." Liam mumbled, too tired to argue. The time difference between Kanto and Alola had been hard on him, and what should've been a thirty-minute nap had turned into a four-hour one instead.

"Did you fall asleep in those clothes again?"

Liam looked down. He had on a casual blue and white striped tee and black capris with red accent – the same thing he'd been wearing since yesterday. It was the last outfit he wore in Kanto when saying goodbye to his friends and before boarding the plane, and he was fine wearing this for the rest of his life here on this island. Instead of saying this, though, he merely shrugged his shoulders.

"Liam, go get changed and let's try to finish up unpacking everything," Gloria said, heading to the living room. She was quickly interrupted by a ringing sound coming from the front door.

"Was that the doorbell?" Gloria looked puzzled before she widened her eyes in realization. "Oh! That's got to be Professor Kukui."

 _Professor Kukui? Why would he come here?_

"Here," Gloria pulled out a brush, "Fix your hair. Come on, don't give me that look. Be quick about it." Scowling, Liam did as he told, and his midnight blue layered hair was removed of any unwanted strands.

"Why don't you let him in, Liam? And _be polite_." He gave his mother another annoyed look, but she decided she wasn't going to have it today. "I mean it Liam. You can act all moody with me, but don't take your frustration out on other people." Begrudgingly, the boy had not taken more than four steps when the front door swung open, and a man in his early thirties let himself in. He was not overly tall, but his muscular profile suggested he worked out and lived a healthy lifestyle. He had on a white cap, grey shorts, and green sandals but lacked any shirt underneath his white lab coat, exposing his tanned chest. Through his green shield sunglasses, he surveyed the foyer before spotting Liam's alarmed face.

"Hey there, Liam! Good to meet you, cousin."

 _Cousin?_ Baffled at being called such a title, Liam wondered if he should respond in the same manner and decided against it.

"You gotta be tired after that long trip all the way out here to Alola. You feelin' any jetlag, cousin?" Remembering his mother's words, Liam kept his mouth shut and shrugged his shoulders, unsure what to say to the man.

Professor Kukui – renowned Pokémon Professor of the Alola region who specializes in Pokémon moves. Liam didn't know too much about him other than that, but he looked younger than expected. Thinking about it, Liam was reminded of the Kanto Pokémon Professor Oak. He was an elderly gentleman but more professionally dressed and proper mannered. Besides his research on relationship between trainer and Pokémon, Professor Oak also gave new Kanto trainers their first starter Pokémon to mark the start of the journey to the Indigo League. _And here I am, stuck with a professor who keeps calling me cousin_ , he thought bitterly.

"Professor Kukui!" As if on cue, Gloria appeared before things got more awkward, "Yes, we just arrived yesterday."

"Hey there, Mom! I just let myself in. Oh, and call me Kukui, would you? I stopped by to welcome you to Alola."

"Okay then, Kukui," Gloria smiled. "I still remember seeing you battle the Indigo Gym Leaders. That's where I saw the Alolan Pokémon for the first time and been in love with them ever since."

"You were in the Indigo Pokémon League?" Liam perked up with slight interest for the first time.

"Yeah!" Professor Kukui laughed good naturally, "I was supposed to be there to research Kanto Pokémon moves and all. I thought I knew a thing or two about battling and decided to enter. Boy, was I wrong. Those Kanto Gym Leaders were as tough as they say."

"Oh…" Liam looked disinterested now. Professor Kukui must have been a rather novice trainer if he had such difficulty in the Indigo League, and it sounded like he did it out on a whim rather than taking it seriously.

"Hey now, Liam! Let's get a move on to the next town over, cousin. Time to go meet the Island Kahuna."

"The Island Kahuna? What for?" Gloria asked, looking puzzled. Liam cocked his head to the side, equally confused.

"Well, I figure Liam here would like to get his first Pokémon."

"Pokémon?" Liam looked up, shocked.

"Wait," Gloria interrupted, "Kukui, don't you give out Pokémon?"

"Actually, I'm not the one in charge of Pokémon. Unlike the other regions, the Kahunas here in Alola are the ones who give out the Pokémon. The one who lives in Iki Town is always happy to give any kid who wants to go on an adventure their first Pokémon." He turned to Liam.

"Each of the four islands of Alola has one Kahuna," he explained as though reading Liam's mind, "They are like the mayors and protectors of this region and are also crazy-strong Pokémon Trainers. Oh, but don't try taking on them yourselves. They are unbeatable for folks like me and you."

"And they'll simply give him a Pokémon?"

"That's right."

"Well in that case," Gloria smiled, "those Kahunas are worth meeting! What do you say, Liam? Want to go meet this Kahuna?"

"Y-yeah, I guess," Liam said, trying to remain indifferent, but Gloria could see the sparkle of excitement in his eyes.

"In that case, hurry and get ready. Make sure you get your hat and backpack. Oh, and the Adventure Rules on your desk. Don't forget it."

"If you hurry," Professor Kukui added, "you can even have your first Pokémon battle."

"Okay." Liam nodded and hurried off to his room, clearly thrilled now.

"Thank you," Gloria mouthed to Professor Kukui as her son left. "I haven't seen him this happy since I told him about the move."

"No problem," Professor Kukui grinned. "I know it must have been hard for him, moving to a new place. I figure getting his first Pokémon would be a great start to feel more at home here, and it's a great way to meet new people."

"I can't wait to see his new Pokémon. I should take pictures when he gets back home… oh but, where in the world did I pack my camera…"

"I'm ready," Liam reappeared with his hat and backpack on. He twitched with excitement and for the first time since they arrived, looking rather impatient to head out and explore the area.

"Woo, that's a stylin' hat, cousin."

"Thanks, I guess." Liam immediately reverted back to his quiet self, looking down at the floor. The professor was unfazed by the simple response and gave a knowing look at Gloria. _Give the kid some time and he'll be yapping away._

"Have a good time!" Gloria called out as the two left, "I'll be sure to have everything cleaned up and put away by the time you come back with your new Pokémon."

"Your mom there… She's sure looking forward to you getting your first Pokémon, yeah?"

"Yes… Professor Kukui," Liam added, remembering his manners.

"Well, let's not waste any more time. Let's get going to Iki Town! Time to get you a nice Pokémon from the island kahuna." Liam nodded, wondering how a person could be so enthusiastic with every aspect of his life.

…

During the entire walk, the professor kept the conversation lively with his explanation of the area. "Welcome to paradise, cousin. This is the Alola region, woo!" He spread his arms wide out as though to appreciate the wonders around him, which was not much to begin with. Route 1 was nothing special in terms of roads. It was spacious and plenty of shrubbery and palm trees lined along the wooden fences that kept travelers on the straight and narrow path. With nighttime blanketing the area, it was too dark to see the gorgeous sea on the horizon as the road inclined upwards.

"Folks here in Alola get along by living together with Pokémon and working together, too." Liam merely nodded to the commentary as they climbed up the small hill. "So, Liam. You're lovin' Alola already, yeah?" There was a brief pause before he realized too late that the professor wanted a response.

"I guess," Liam finally said. However, his lackluster response didn't go unnoticed. Professor Kukui gave a sad smile and was about to say something…

"Professor Kukui!" A little boy no more than five ran over to the professor. "You've gotta recommend another move for me sometime! Please?"

"Why? You already know which moves you want to use, yeah? You come find me next time your Pokémon learns a new move, and then I'll battle you." The boy beamed, clearly pleased.

"Professor Kukui!" Two other kids at the top of the hill waved, thrilled to see the man. They seemed to be in the middle of a Pokémon battle, but stopped when they saw him.

"Hey there!" He waved back.

"Is that the new kid?" One of the kids peered over to Liam, who felt uncomfortable with the curious stares.

"His name is Liam. Come on, say hello."

"Howzit, Liam! Let's have a Pokémon battle sometime!" Shy now, Liam nodded and waved back at the grinning faces.

"We have to get moving. You guys can chat later."

"Okay, see you later professor! Come on, Yungoos! Let's win this!"

"See?" Professor Kukui said as they continued their walk. "Having Pokémon gives you a whole new way to communicate with other people." Liam could still hear the sounds of the battle in the background. He couldn't deny what was said. The same could be said back at Kanto. Liam was friends with so many people because of their interest in Pokémon.

 _Not was… am… I still am friends with them._ His fists tightened around the straps of his backpack. It didn't matter where he was. They would always be friends. If he could get a Pokémon from this Kahuna then he still had a chance to go back to Kanto and become the Pokémon Champion.

"Now let's get moving!" Professor Kukui continued, leading the way, "Iki Town is right over there." With renewed energy, Liam quickened his pace.

…

"Welcome to Iki Town," Professor Kukui announced, continuing to narrate everything ad nauseam. After passing a wooden archway, Liam found himself standing near houses of similar design to his own. Small steps led to another layer of buildings where the center was occupied by a large circular platform. Liam could feel his heart beating rapidly with excitement. He was going to get his first Pokémon!

"This town is where folks come to worship the Pokémon that watches over Melemele Island – Tapu Koko. Over there –" Professor Kukui pointed to a trail leading out of the town "– is Mahalo Trail which leads to the ruins of the guardian deity."

 _Tapu Koko? Mahalo Trail? Guardian deity?_ The words sounded like jargon in Liam's ears, but he didn't care at the moment. He just wanted to hurry up and get his Pokémon. However, the professor was now distracted and scanned across the town. "Huh? What's goin' on here? We were supposed to meet everybody right here, yeah." There were several townsfolk still outside, but no one took a second glance at the two newcomers. Professor Kukui scratched his head in confusion and seemed to be in deep thought.

"Liam! Do me a solid and go find the Island Kahuna for me. I'll wait around here so we don't miss each other."

"What?" Liam yelped in shock, "Why me?"

"Come on cousin. This is a good chance to meet your neighbors. Get you start talking more."

 _By asking them if they know where the Kahuna is? How does that make a good conversation starter?_ Liam was starting to wonder if there was something wrong with this guy's head.

"You can't miss the guy. He looks just like a Kahuna."

 _And what does a kahuna look like?_

"Come on cousin! Off with you!" Professor Kukui pushed Liam toward the center of town before he could object and waved. "Good luck!"

Groaning, Liam turned to view the town with more trepidation than before. Already he stood out like a sore thumb. Most of the residents here were tanned and wore bright and colorful summer outfits. Most were talking in pairs like old friends, but a couple did stop their conversations to give curious stares as he passed them. He felt uncomfortable and definitely knew there was no way he could bring himself to talk them. Everyday activities that seemed normal to others felt foreign to him here in Alola with foreign people. Hoping that he would just come across someone who 'looks like a Kahuna' as the professor put it, he passed the houses and climbed up to the second level of town and saw something that made him halt in surprise. At the northern edge of the village, there was a girl about his age standing there in front of a trail path.

Odd. She didn't look like a local with her outfit which consisted of a white summer dress and a large floppy hat. Her long, pale, blonde hair went past her shoulders with the front half plaited into two even braids. Liam found himself staring that the pale girl. She was acting mighty suspicious and kept glancing left and right as she struggled with the contents of her duffle bag.

 _And now she is talking to it._ Liam could see her lips moving but could not make out the words. He wasn't quite sure at this point if the girl was sane or not, but he noticed that she disappeared down a pathway in the back. Liam hurried to the entrance and saw the sign read 'Mahalo Trail'. Curious, he decided to follow after her.

…

"Hold still Nebby," Lillie mumbled as she desperately tried to hold the bag. "I don't know what you hope to find there, but squirming around in there will not make the process any faster." It was a narrow footpath, winding upwards the mountain terrains of Melemele Island. Stone figures occasionally lined the area, their carved eyes staring down at any passersby. The dirt path soon stopped at the edge of a ravine. Lying across it was an old wooden bridge that led to the cave entrance to the temple on the other side. "No, you can't come out!" Lillie grabbed the bag, desperate to keep the top closed. "We'll get in trouble if anyone sees you." All Lillie wanted was a calm and peaceful walk. However, Nebby had other plans and escaped from its confinement.

"Nebby, wait!" Too excited to hear the call, the little Pokémon bounced across the bridge. Although it couldn't see the other side, it could feel the powerful energy emitting from there that grew stronger and stronger with each hop it took across the wooden planks. Overwhelmed with the feeling, the little Nebby failed to notice three shadows flying overhead before it was too late. Soon, beaks and claws showered from above, pounding against it.

" _ **NEBBY!**_ "

…

Liam heard the scream and sprinted up towards the sound. When he reached to the top of Mahalo Trail, he saw the girl standing with her back towards him.

"Umm, what's wrong?"

She whipped her head around, startled by his voice. She had startling green eyes that were petrified in fear. "H-help... Save Nebby!"

 _Nebby?_ Liam blinked in confusion and looked over the girl's shoulder. He couldn't make out what this Nebby looked like from where he was standing, but he could hear its cries and see three flying shadows hovering above.

"Those Spearow are attacking it," she said in a quivering voice, "But… but I'm too afraid to go out there… My legs feel like they might give out." Her legs were visibly shaking and her hands trembled as they gripped onto the strap of her bag.

"Okay," Liam muttered, "I'll take care of this." He walked over to the edge of the bridge before halting abruptly. Looking down the ravine, he swallowed in fear. The bridge was in clear need of repair; parts were already falling apart, leaving gaping holes in random spots. Further down, Liam could see the rocks protruding out of the swift current. If he tripped and fell, that would be the last thing he would see before his death.

"Peeewwww!" He snapped back to reality and looked up again. The three wild Spearow continued to peck and attack the poor creature, and he knew that he could not hesitate any longer. Taking a deep breath, he took his first step. There was an uneasy creaking sound beneath his foot as he put weight on it, and he prayed that the bridge would be able to hold.

 _I need to get there fast, but also carefully._ He could hear the girl gasp every time he stumbled or had to make his way around a rotten part of the bridge by grabbing on the wooden rail for support. It did not help with the tension, and the whole process took several long agonizing minutes before he managed to arrive at his destination.

"Hey Spearow, back off!" Quickly, he pushed the birds away and shielded the little creature with his body. Now that he had a better look, what was this thing? The poor creature looked to be made of gaseous black clouds and with tiny wisp-like extensions that served as arms. The girl called it Nebby, but it certainly sounded more like some sort of nickname than the name of the Pokémon's species.

Meanwhile, the Spearow didn't get the message and continued their assault. They pecked his head and clawed at his skin; still, Liam refused to budge from his spot. "I said back off!" He yelled as he continued to protect Nebby. Irritated, the three bird Pokémon became more and more aggressive with their attacks, and as he ignored the constant pain, Liam wondered how long he could endure.

Then something happened that Liam couldn't quite explain. All he knew was that Nebby started to scream and part of the bridge below him immediately started to glow a strange blue light. Shining brighter by the second, he had to shield his eyes from the glare, and then he heard a loud thunderous crack. An invisible energy knocked the Spearow away; yet, Liam was unaffected by the strange power. At the same time, though, this strange force caused the weakened bridge to shatter into pieces, and he found himself staring at the night sky as he plunged downwards into the sea.

"AHHHH!" Terrified and confused, Liam held Nebby tightly in his arms. He squeezed his eyes shut, praying this time that he would miss the sharp rocks and hit the cold water instead. Wind whistled past his ears and the cold whipped past him as he plunged downwards. However, the impact never came. In fact, he was being lifted into the air. He opened one eye and then gasped in shock.

…

"NOOO!" Lillie felt her heart stop when she saw the familiar bright blue light radiate across the ravine and the bridge splintering into pieces. She rushed to the side of the canyon as the boy and Nebby plunged down into the waters below. Tears formed in her eyes at the horrifying scene, when suddenly a bolt of yellow lightning sped downwards after the two, and the next thing she knew, the boy was sitting next to her with Nebby in his arms.

Bewildered, the three turned and saw standing in front of them the lightning rescuer – a strange yellow and black rooster-like Pokémon. It sported large orange plume with bristles along its back on his head and the thin black arms supported yellow shield-like masks and claws for hands. The body crackled with electricity as its small blue eyes returned their gazes. A long silence fell between them before the mysterious Pokémon gave a loud squawk that echoed throughout the area and shot upwards in an electrical surge, disappearing into the night sky. The area returned to its quiet and peaceful state.

"Was that Tapu Koko…?" Lillie stared blankly at the night sky, "Why…?"

"Owww." The boy touched his nose, and Lillie saw that his fingers turned red.

"Oh my Arceus! You're bleeding!" Shocked, Lillie grabbed a white handkerchief from her bag and quickly handed it to him. He immediately pinched his nose with it. "Um, are you okay? Did you get hurt from the fall?"

"That jerb!"

Lillie flinched from the sudden outburst. "What?"

"Urgh, that roosber Pokémon threw somebing at me before it 'lew off." The boy scowled at the night sky, clearly infuriated.

"Something? Like what?"

"Don't knowb, but it was 'ard… Owww… 'urts." The handkerchief was stained in red, but the bleeding slowed to a halt.

"Pew!" Nebby called out, hopping around a patch of grass.

"Nebby!" Lille crouched down and saw that something glittered in the grass. She picked it up. "A sparkling stone?" It was grey and had strange black and white diamond patterns on one side with an oddly delta-shaped symbol above it. _So warm._ Lillie rolled the rock across her hands before turning to the boy.

"What is that?" The boy asked, trying to get a good look. "A rock?" His voice was filled with disbelief. "That thing threw a rock at my face?"

"I think it wanted to give it to you. Here." She handed it over to the boy, who looked at it rather dubiously.

"Well, if it took the time to throw it at my face..." the boy grumbled, but he accepted the gift. He twisted it around in his hands, waiting for something to happen, but nothing did. In the end, figuring it was nothing but a stone, he placed it into his back pant pocket. He then turned his attention towards Nebby.

"So, is this your Pokémon? Nebby, right? I've never seen its species before." He crouched down for a better look. "What type is it? Dark?"

"Ah! Well…" Lillie flinched at the sudden change of topic, "Ummm… No, Nebby is not my Pokémon. It is… just a friend." She squirmed and bit her lips. It was no surprise that the boy would be curious, but she wished he wouldn't ask any questions.

"Well for something that small, it is really strong." The boy observed, not noticing Lillie's look of unease, "Knocked those Spearow and broke the bridge while at it. What level is it?"

"I don't know…" Lillie turned her attention to the little cloud Pokémon. "Nebby, you used your powers again, didn't you?" The little Pokémon looked down guiltily.

"Oh Nebby, you know what happened last time you used it. You couldn't move for ages after that. I don't want to see you like that again." Lillie saw the shame on its face as it kept its eyes on the ground. "No. I shouldn't say that. I'm sorry, Nebby." She picked up the Pokémon and gave it a tight hug.

"I knew you were trying to save me that time… And I couldn't even help you in return." Lillie looked over to the boy and then noticed the cuts and bruises on the his arms. "Th-thank you for saving Nebby," Lillie mumbled. "I'm sorry for all this."

"Oh," the boy followed Lillie's line of sight, noticing for the first time the wounds on his arms, "don't worry about it. I've gotten scratches worse than these. I'm just glad that Nebby is okay."

"We should probably go get those looked at and cleaned," Lillie said, feeling awful. Nebby was her friend, and she just stood there, paralyzed while a complete stranger stepped forward without hesitation and almost got killed in the process. And here he was, standing here like it was no big deal.

"Yeah," the boy said, though he merely shrugged at the suggestion, "and we should get Nebby checked as well at the Pokémon Center. It looks fine but-."

"NO!"

"No?"

Lillie clasped her hands over her mouth. She didn't expect to shout so loudly and rudely. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scream like that," Lillie sputtered to his alarmed face. "Please, forgive me. I am so grateful to you for helping us out of that dangerous spot." Taking a deep breath, she bowed low. "Please don't tell anybody about this… About seeing Nebby… It's a secret, OK?"

"O-okay."

 **Author's Notes**

Oh my gosh, I didn't realize how much Professor Kukui narrated until I actually started to look at the dialogue more closely. (Yes, I know I'm in Iki Town. You don't need to repeat it twenty times!)

If you haven't notice, I was trying to do my best to keep the dialogue similar as possible to the game, but I added tweaks here and there just to make things more interesting.

So, Liam meets Lillie and Nebby. And Tapu Koko saved the day though it did throw a rock at his face. XP By the way, did anybody find it weird in the game that when Nebby released its power, it knocked the Spearow away and shattered the bridge yet the protagonist was not at all hurt?

And Liam is getting his first Pokémon! I wonder which one he would get… Hmmm.

Out of curiosity, what is your favorite Alola starter Pokémon and why?

Oh, before I forget, school is starting back up for me and I'm going to be busy again. However, I'm making it a goal this time to spend some time each day to write a little regardless. I have lots of things written in all my stories, just need to take the time to edit.

Hope everybody has/had an enjoyable winter break and I'll see you in the next chapter.

 **-JapanDreamer**


	4. Introductions

Hey everybody! Hope everybody is doing well. Been busy, but managed to spend time writing at least once a week.

So, here is the next chapter.

Enjoy!

 **Chapter 4:**

Liam escorted the mysterious girl down Mahalo Trail. With the bridge gone, they had no choice but to head back the way they came. She remained rather quiet and focused intently on her duffle bag.

 _No, not her bag. Nebby_.

After the whole ordeal, the girl had placed it back into her bag and out of sight. He was insanely curious about the mysterious Pokémon; his mind was racing with so many questions. However, it was clear from the conversation earlier that the girl didn't want to talk about it. So, for the remainder of the trip, they walked in silence.

When they arrived at the entrance of the village, a man was waving to them near the wooden platform. "Liam! There you are!" Professor Kukui called out, "You missed the Kahuna, huh?"

 _That's right._ After everything that had transpired, Liam's quest to search for the Kahuna had completely escaped his mind. Falling off a broken bridge had that kind of effect. He was about to explain what happened, but the professor spotted the girl behind him, "But I see you found my assistant, oh yeah!"

 _Assistant?_ Liam glanced over at the girl in new light. He never thought someone his age would be able to work for the Alola Pokémon Professor. Perhaps she was a highly skilled trainer or perhaps a gifted researcher. That would explained everything about Nebby and all the secrecy.

"Oh… um… yes! I never introduced myself." She turned towards him and bowed slightly. "My name is Lillie. I am Professor Kukui's assistant."

 _Lillie. So, that's her name._

"Hi, I'm Liam."

"Liam here just moved to Alola, yeah," Professor Kukui explained, "Take good care of him, okay?"

"I see. Are you also one of the professor's acquaintances? Have you come to learn about Pokémon moves from him?"

Taken aback slightly by the girl's sudden stream of questions, Liam was saved from answering as shouts came from the entrance of the Iki Town.

"Kahuna Hala! Kahuna Hala is back!" Many of the villagers immediately gathered around at the front.

"Oh?" Professor Kukui looked over with interest. "Looks like he's finally here." Liam glanced over just as the crowd was parting to reveal a large man wearing an opened thin yellow jacket and blue flip-flops. He wore a large blue shirt over his pot belly and a thick white rope tied around like a belt. His dark skin was weathered from the sun while his hair and mustache were white as snow. Despite his casual look, he gave off an air of importance as he glanced around the town, greeting the people.

"Kahuna Hala!" Professor Kukui waved as though they were old friends. The Kahuna looked over in surprise before striding towards the trio.

"Kukui, have I missed something?"

"Naw, but where'd you go off to, Kahuna? I thought we were meeting here."

"Sorry Kukui, but there was a problem on Hau'oli City. As Kahuna of this island, it is my duty to resolve it, no matter the time or day. I came here as fast as I could though when I saw it."

"Huh? Saw what?"

"Tapu Koko. I saw it flying about," Hala frowned, "Very unusual for it to be out in the open, so I figured something was amiss."

"Oh, now that you mentioned it, I thought I heard Tapu Koko's cries, but..." Kukui mumbled, puzzled.

"Oh, um…"

"Lillie, do you know something?" The Kahuna turned to the timid girl.

"Y-yes, Kahuna Hala," Lillie nodded. "Nebby was being attacked by Spearow on the Plank Bridge when Liam helped it get away..." Perplexed, Liam stared at Lillie as she explained to this man what happened after she explicitly told him not to say anything. _What's with all the secrecy then?_

"Liam?" For the first time, the elderly man turned to the boy. Immediately, he felt shy and looked down at his feet.

"But the bridge collapsed," Lillie continued, "and I thought both of them might fall into to the bottom of the ravine… And that was when the island's guardian deity swooped in to save them!"

"Whoo!" Kukui whistled in amazement, placing his hands on his hips, "That's something you don't hear every day."

 _Guardian deity? That Pokémon was the guardian deity?_ Liam recalled Professor Kukui mentioning about some Pokémon called Tapu Koko that protected this place, but he thought the Pokémon was part of some old legend.

"Ho! Although it is said to protect us, our Tapu Koko is a rather fickle creature," Hala said as though reading Liam's mind. "Yet," he turned to the boy with renewed interest, "our guardian was moved to save you." Although Hala looked impressed, Liam didn't see what the big deal was. Sure, the Pokémon saved him and he was grateful, but it wasn't like it made him special or anything. Tapu Koko probably would've done the same thing if someone else was on that bridge.

"Kukui, my boy, I think we have cause to celebrate!" Hala exclaimed, "It seems I should entrust this brave and kind young boy with a Pokémon of his own." Liam looked up surprise. "We'll make a fine trainer out of him!" He continued like a doting grandfather. Professor Kukui nodded and winked at Liam who was unable to hide his grin.

"I'm glad to meet you, child," the man said, turning his attention back to Liam, "Let me properly introduce myself. I am Hala, Kahuna of Melemele Island. I welcome you to Alola. Professor Kukui has told me a lot about you. I'm glad we got a chance to meet today."

"It is an honor to meet you, sir… Kahuna sir…" Liam mumbled, wondering if his greeting was proper enough.

However, Hala didn't seem too big on formalities and walked to the large wooden platform in the middle of town. "Allow me to give you your first Pokémon," he said as he threw three Poké Balls into the air. After a flash of light, three Pokémon appeared on top of the wooden platform.

One was a tiny, rotund owl with short legs and a green bowtie made of leaves on its chest. It hooted in confusion as its head twisted 90 degrees to the side. The second was a black kitten with red whiskers. It yawned and stared at Liam with bored, yellow eyes. The third was a blue seal with a long, white snout and small, floppy blue ears. A large, pink nose was attached at the end of its snout. It barked and clapped its flippers.

"That over there is Rowlet, a grass/flying-type," Hala said, pointing to the owl. "Over there is Litten, a fire-type. And the blue one is Popplio, a water-type." Liam had never seen these Pokémon before and stared at the three with fascination.

"All right, let's start the ceremony. Get on the platform so the Pokémon can see if they want to be your partner."

"What?" Liam said, not sure he heard correctly.

"In Alola, it is not just the Trainer who chooses, but also the Pokémon. Only when you have both chosen each other can you truly call each other partners." Already a crowd was forming; they all seemed to know what was going to happen and all glanced excitedly and curiously at Liam. Feeling the spotlight, he slowly climbed up on one side of the platform while the three Pokémon were on other.

"Go-good luck Liam," Lillie called out timidly.

"So, what do I do?" he asked, clearly unsure what comes next.

"Offer your hand in friendship," Hala said.

"Okay…" He walked slowly towards to the three and crouched down a foot or two away. "Hi, my name is Liam. I wish to become partners," he said carefully, with his hand outstretched. Immediately, Litten hissed and replied with its claws.

"Ouch," Liam winced in pain from the additional scratches added to his arm. The kitten immediately ran off and disappeared into the bushes. Popplio, clearly thinking this was some sort of game, followed after its friend. "Hey, come back here!"

"Don't worry about them," Kahuna Hala said before Liam could take off, "That Litten is a difficult one. I've never seen it listen to anybody, even me. It'll come back."

 _Then why bother taking it out?_ He felt his face burning in embarrassment. With rules like these, what if no Pokémon wanted him? The horrifying thought crossed his mind when he suddenly felt something soft rub against his arm. Looking down, he saw the little owl Pokémon, cooing with happiness. He picked it up and the little Pokémon continued to hoot with joy and flapped its wings.

"Ho, so little Rowlet has accepted you," Hala said, "Careful though, that one likes to sleep a lot." The small audience applauded, congratulating Liam. Still embarrassed, he hugged it against its chest. It closed its eyes, clearly drifting off to sleep.

"You'll surely be friends for life," Professor Kukui said, clearly overjoyed as he walked over.

"Nice to meet you, Rowlet," Lillie came over as well and rubbed the sleeping Pokémon's head.

" _PEW!_ "

"Pew?" Startled, Lillie looked down to see Nebby next to her feet.

"Oh! When did you get out again?" Lillie scolded quietly. "I know that Kahuna Hala and the professor will keep you safe from harm, but you should still stay in the bag and out of sight. It's safer that way." Nebby pouted, puffing out its cheek in frustration but complied and jumped back into the bag.

"I think you chose a wonderful Pokémon," Lillie said, turning her attention back to Liam. "It looks so peaceful with you. I know you'll take good care of it."

"Thanks, Lillie."

"Well, congratulations, Liam!" Professor Kukui said, slapping Liam hard on his back. "You're a real trainer, yeah! Here, a gift from me." He handed a red flat square device with a black screen in the center.

"Umm… thanks?" Liam was unsure what to make of it. "What is it?"

"It's a Pokédex. It will record facts about any Pokémon you'll meet. I'm pretty sure you've heard of them." Oh, he'd heard of them; he just never saw one so inconveniently designed. This Pokédex was rather large and bulky compared to the small one in Kanto. He would need both hands to scan the area for Pokémon. Unable to carry both Rowlet and the technological device, Liam placed it in his backpack.

"Okay, I think we should call it a night. We should get you home so you can show your mom your new Pokémon. Lillie, can you show Liam the way back to his place and make sure he doesn't get lost? I have some things I need to-"

"It's fine!" Liam said quickly, not wanting to be escorted like a toddler. "I can find a way back."

"Are you sure?" Professor Kukui looked hesitant, but he shrugged his shoulders, "Okay then. Just stay on the path and follow the signs." Liam nodded and took off.

"Oh wait," Kahuna Hala glanced down at his hand "The boy forgot his Rowlet's Poké Ball."

"Hey, Liam!" But the boy was already gone.

…

Liam ran as fast as he could. His heart was pumping with excitement. His Pokémon, his first Pokémon! Rowlet gave a cooing noise as it continued to sleep in his arms. It was already late. They could start their training tomorrow morning. He would get some practice in with Rowlet, catch more Pokémon, and once they were all strong enough he could head back to Kanto.

 _And there, my real journey will start._

He could say goodbye to Alola and meet up with his real friends. Just as he left the entrance and was back on the dirt path home, he found a boy about his age strolling from the opposite way. He had dark green hair tied up in a short ponytail and wore a casual black t-shirt over his orange-yellow swimsuit trunks. Orange straps of his backpack were around his arms. He was taking his time and was clearly in no hurry, but the moment he spotted Liam, his eyes widened and he ran until they were face-to-face. And before Liam could even open his mouth to say 'excuse me'…

"Hey! You and me! Let's have a Pokémon battle!"

 **Author's Notes**

Whoa! Wait just a minute. We haven't taken more than twenty steps, and we got ourselves our first battle. And its someone we don't know! Or do we? XP

And it looks like Liam has gotten his first Pokémon – Rowlet!

Thanks for reading and I'll see you in the next chapter.

 **-JapanDreamer**


	5. New Friends and New Mysteries

Hi everyone! It's been a while since my last chapter, but midterms are here for me and I needed to prepare for them.

Still, thank you for being patient and I'm going to start massive writing again once this is over and I'm on my break.

Thank **villomaru** for editing!

 **Chapter 5:**

"Wha-?" Liam stood dumbfounded as the trainer took out a Poké Ball from his pocket.

"You and me!" He repeated, "A battle with your Rowlet!" He didn't look like he was joking.

"DAHAHAHAHA!" A voice laughed from behind. Liam looked over his shoulders to see Professor Kukui and Lillie following the Kahuna. "Where's the fire, boy?" He tried to sound stern, but he had a big grin on his face.

"I see you met my grandson."

 _Grandson?!_ Liam glanced over at the trainer in his tropical shorts. The only thing he could surmise that they were related was their similar dark skin and the same matching top knot on their head.

"Anyways, what kind of Pokémon battle would that be if you don't even introduce yourself first, boy?"

"Opps. Fair enough," the boy grinned sheepishly before turning to Liam. "I'm Hau. Nice to meet you. Your Rowlet looks so cool!"

"Umm, thanks?" Liam could not keep up with this guy's enthusiasm.

"Come on, let's have a battle!" He repeated, jumping with excitement. Liam didn't expect someone to challenge him so quickly. He hadn't even checked the Pokédex to see what sort of moves his Pokémon knew. The thought of simply plunging into battle with this lack of knowledge embarrassed him.

"Whoa there!" Professor Kukui stepped in. "Before we get things heated, I would like to remind you that it is getting pretty late. We all need some sleep for the big day." For once, Liam was secretly grateful for Professor Kukui's interruption. When he got home, he would do as much studying as possible before he started accepting challenges from random trainers...

"What? But I've been running all over Iki Town to find him! I wanted to have a Pokémon battle with him." Hau pouted slightly.

"Well," Lillie spoke up, "I don't really like seeing Pokémon battles, since they can get hurt… but I'll watch you."

"Lillie!" Hau just noticed the girl. His face seemed to have lightened up and his smile widened. "It is good to see you!"

"Good to see you too, Hau," Lillie said politely. Her posture was still stiff and proper but her smile was soft.

"Oh, before I forget, Liam, don't go rushing off without your Rowlet's Poké Ball again." Kahuna Hala held out the item. "I know you're excited, but it is important not to leave things behind."

"Oh," Liam turned red in the ears. "Right." He was going to hastily stuff it into his pocket before he realized there was something already in it.

"Hm? Liam," Hala looked curiously at the glint coming from Liam's pocket. "Can I see that?"

"What? Oh, yeah, sure." He pulled out the sparkling stone. It was still warm in his hands when he handed it over. Kahuna Hala's eyes widened with shock.

"Could it be?" He mumbled.

 _Huh?_ Liam saw the same look on Professor Kukui's face.

"Tutu," Hau whispered in amazement, "Isn't that…" Hala nodded quietly before turning to Liam.

"You were rescued by Tapu Koko at the bridge, correct?"

"What? Tapu Koko?" Hau's eyes widened with amazement, "Wait, so it was Tapu Koko I heard earlier!"

"What? Oh yeah… That's when it gave me that… or rather it threw it at my face."

 _Where is this conversation going? What's so special about this rock?_ Liam wanted answers, but nobody seemed to provide them.

"Tapu Koko is a mischievous Pokémon, but it means no harm," Kahuna Hala said with a wink. He turned his attention back to the stone. "So, it even deigned to give you a stone."

 _Would someone PLEASE tell me what's so special about this stone?_ Liam though impatiently, but it looked like everybody forgot to share. Lillie was puzzled as well.

"Perhaps you are here in Alola, Liam, because this is where you are meant to be."

 _You're wrong,_ Liam wanted to say. _I don't belong here at all._ Not with the tropical trees, not with the constant hot weather, not with the ocean, or with a guardian deity that thinks a rock will make him stay. Nothing here was home. Rowlet gave an uncomfortable hoot as Liam squeezed his arms tight around it.

"Liam, will you allow me to borrow this stone for now?" Hala held the rock up so that it glittered in the moonlight.

"You can keep it if you want it." What use did he have for a rock anyways?

"Nonsense, boy! Tapu Koko gave this to you specifically. I'll return it to you tomorrow evening." He gave Liam a long look. "It would seem you have the makings of a fine trainer," he spoke with some renewed pride.

"You must do us the honor of joining in our festival tomorrow. You can battle Hau then."

"Really? Yes!" Hau jumped with joy.

"Um, but, uhh…"

"First things first though, let's make sure you get back home safely, yeah?" Professor Kukui said, finally interrupting. "You need a good rest. You too, Lillie. After today's ordeal, I don't want to lose you twice in one day. You or that precious Pokémon of yours."

"Yes… I will keep an eye on…"

" _PEW!_ " Nebby cried out, hopping out in the open.

"Oh, you-!" Lillie said exasperatedly as the group burst into laughter. Even Liam gave a small chuckle. "Would you not try to escape the very moment that you were told not wander off!" Nebby merely gave a grin in reply.

…

"Liam? It's almost midnight. Liam?" After a brief introduction and a small scuffle between Rowlet and Meowth, Liam had shut himself in his room. Gloria could see his joy of getting his first Pokémon. For the first time since before the move, he spoke more than a few words. Of course, she noticed that the only thing he talked about was that bulky Pokédex and the Pokémon. What was its name? Rowlet? The boy refused to let go of it, though the Pokémon didn't seem to mind. In fact, he seemed quite comfortable in Liam's' arms. Afterwards, Gloria pushed him to clean up his room and for once, he didn't complain. However, she could still see light shining out of his door even after she had told him to call it a day.

"Liam? I'm coming in." Books about Alola that Gloria had bought for her son now lay strewn across the floor. Colorful pages about the tropics and even a few about some of the native species.

"Liam? What's this? I thought I told you to clean up the room, not make it into a bigger mess."

"Sorry, mom," Liam said, not looking up, "I've been trying to learn about the Pokémon here in Alola." Rowlet popped his head out of a pile of books and gave a hoot. It started to swim through the paperbacks and hardcovers, clearly enjoying the challenge. Meowth gave a look of disdain before creeping back over to its Ditto plush bed. Gloria sighed and started to pick up the books strewn at the far edges of the mountain of books.

"I've only read about Rowlet. Did you know that its main form of attacks are its kicks, not its pecks?" The owl Pokémon gave a hoot of importance as Liam rubbed its head. "But I still haven't found any information on Nebby."

"Nebby?"

"This Pokémon that Lillie carries around in her bag." Liam looked back down at the books. He should probably go to the library tomorrow. If there was one…

"Lillie?" Gloria looked up, very interested now.

"Yeah, she's Professor Kukui's assistant," Liam explained, not noticing the glint in mom's eyes.

 _Oh snap!_ He remembered he wasn't supposed to talk about Nebby to anybody, even to his mom and now he went ahead and blabbed everything or almost everything. "Wait, mom! Please don't tell anybody what I said."

"Of course, I won't." Gloria chuckled at Liam's panicked look. "Well, I leave you to your studying."

 _Why was she smiling like that?_ Liam wondered as the door closed behind his mom. _Well, at least she won't tell anyone._ Shrugging his shoulders, he turned his attention back to the book.

 _And lucky me, it seems like she completely forgot about my room being a mess._

…

"You have got to stay for the festival tomorrow," Hau said excitedly as he talked into the phone. His enthusiasm had not waned since his encounter earlier with Liam. "Come on! There's going to be dancing, singing, and food. They even got Melemele's special malasada!"

"All you think about is malasada, Hau." A female voice sighed. "I don't know… I mean, as much as I'd love watching you in the tournament, I don't want to head back on the ferry in the dark. Besides, I'm going there to take the grand trial again. Can't we just hang out then?"

"But you haven't met Lillie yet. You guys always keep missing each other every time you visit, and she's busy until the festival. Oh, and I want you to meet my new friend."

"Friend?"

"Yeah, his name is Liam! He just moved here. Just like you!"

"Really? From where?"

"I don't know. Somewhere not here."

"Wow, Hau, I never would've guessed." Her voice was filled with sarcasm.

"He's going to compete as well," Hau continued, not listening, "You've got to come meet him. He was given a sparkling stone by Tapu Koko."

"Tapu Koko?" Now the voice sounded interested. There was a brief silence on the other line. "Can I stay over at your place for the night if I say yes?"

"YES!" Hau beamed with happiness. "I'll pick you up at the port."

"Okay, I'll let you know when I come in. See you later, Hau, and I better meet Liam guy."

 **Author's Notes**

What? No battle!? Sorry folks, I've got something special planned for the festival that is even better than a starter battle that I rather focus on. XP

And who is this mysterious person Hau called? It looks like we got another mystery on our hands. Lol.

I hope everybody is doing well and to those who are preparing midterms as well, good luck!

Thanks for reading and I'll see you in the next chapter.

 **-JapanDreamer**


	6. The Sun meets the Moon

Hi guys! I've accomplished the impossible and updated despite my chaotic schedule. LOL.

This chapter is extra-long, and really exciting (at least I hope), so enjoy!

 **Chapter 6:**

"Liam!" Gloria called from the porch, "Come inside, you don't want to be late for the festival!"

"Five more minutes!"

"That's what you said five minutes ago!"

"Another five! Please!" He was giving the Growlithe-puppy eyes again, waiting for her give in and say yes.

"Fine, but this is your last five minutes." Gloria couldn't help but smile as she watched her son continued to train his Rowlet against the reluctant Meowth. In his hand was the red Pokédex that Professor Kukui had given him. Despite all his complaints on the bulky device, he kept it with him at all times, only leaving it in his room when he showered or went to the bathroom. For the first time in forever, Gloria could see the spark of excitement he always had in his eyes.

"Come on, Rowlet! We need to perfect your attacks before we battle Hau." Liam had already filled three pages of battle strategies that were stuffed into his pocket. He wasn't exactly sure when they would battle during the festival or what Pokémon Hau would use, but he figured he should be prepared, regardless of specifics. "Let's go! Use Leafage!"

A whirlwind of glowing green leaves shot straight at Meowth who hissed and tried to use its claws to slash the leaves out of its ways, but there were too many. It yowled in pain, unable to do anything as the barrage of leaves continued to hit it.

"Okay! I think we got it! Let's rest up now.

"I'll get you a treat, Meowth," Liam said, hurrying back into the house. It remained grumpy even when he came back with a box of Snorsnack, but it accepted the treat and allowed him to scratch its ears. Seeing this, Rowlet hooted in annoyance, trying to get in-between the two.

"Oh, sorry, you were great too!" Liam rubbed the top of its head. "You mastered the attack so quickly." The owl puffed its chest out proudly at the praise while Meowth rolled its eyes; this newcomer was taking all of Liam's time with its tiresome and desperate need for attention.

"Okay, Liam," Gloria came back out. "It's been five minutes. Come inside now. And don't trek any dirt in the house!"

"Yeah, mom." He got up and headed back inside, with the two Pokémon following him. Even though they've officially been living here for three days, the house was still as messy as the first. The bare necessities to get by day-to-day were the only things taken out and shelved. "Wash your face and change your clothes," Gloria ordered as she dried the dishes. "You have thirty minutes, so take a quick sho-"

Gloria was interrupted by the doorbell. Both looked up, surprised by the interruption.

"Who could that be?" She wondered out loud and dried her hands. "Liam, go see who it is."

However, before he could reach the door, the unexpected guest invited himself in.

"Hey there, Liam. It's about time to get to the festival, yeah!"

"Hello, Professor Kukui." Liam was not surprised to see the man barging into his house... again.

"I see you and Rowlet are getting along well." He spotted the dirt and grass stains on Liam's clothes and Rowlet's body. "I take it training went well."

"Yeah." There was a soft smile on his face now, and Professor Kukui couldn't help but grin.

"Kukui!" Gloria called out and hurried over. "What a pleasant surprise."

"Hey, Mom. Good to see you."

"What brings you by? Isn't the festival starting soon?"

"Well, we still got a bit of time. I figured I should go ahead and show Liam something on Route 1." He gave a wink to Liam.

"Please, mom?" Liam pleaded, giving his Growlithe-puppy eyes again. She couldn't help but chuckle.

"Change your clothes and you can head out."

"Right," Liam quickly returned his Rowlet back into its Poké Ball and headed into his room.

"Will I be seeing you there as well?"

"Sorry, Kukui, but I still need to finish unpacking," Gloria sighed, gesturing to the state of her house. "I need to look over some paperwork for my job as well."

"I see. Well, I'll make sure your boy gets back home safely."

"Thanks. I appreciate it."

"Okay, I'm ready. Bye, Mom!" As quickly as he came, Liam, with a new set of clothes and his backpack, slammed the door shut behind him.

"See you later!" She called out before smiling.

"Well, we best be heading out. Good luck unpacking."

"Don't worry about me; I'll have this place cleaned up by the time you two get back."

…

 _Route 1…_

"What are you showing me today, Professor Kukui?" They two were taking the longer way to Iki Town. Tall grass grew here and cast long shadows from the setting red sun; the ocean waves could be heard in the distance. It was a beautiful tropical evening as a warm breeze brushed past.

"Ah yes, can you hold out your hand for me? I got something for you." Puzzled, Liam complied and felt the weight of the gift in his hands.

"Here you go," the professor grinned. "Here are some Poké Balls for you." Liam counted; there were ten to be exact.

"I figure that since you're an official Pokémon Trainer and all, I should give you a chance to try and catch a Pokémon and give you some tips while at it.

"Ah, there we go." Professor Kukui spotted a small black and white bird with a red stripe that ran along the top of its head. It pecked the ground, looking for small bugs to eat and didn't notice the two humans nearby as it continued its search.

"Perfect. Liam, tell me what Pokémon is that with your Pokédex."

Liam struggled to pull the red device out of his bag. He held it up as if he was taking a picture, making sure the camera was pointing to the wild Pokémon. "Pikipek. It feeds on berries and stores food in trees by drilling holes into them."

"Good, now how would you catch it?"

"Simple, I battle it until it is weakened and then throw a Poké Ball."

"Can you show me? Don't worry, you can release it afterwards." Liam decided to humor the man who didn't know that he had actually had years of studying and mock stimulation battles back in Kanto. Granted, he never battled real Pokémon, but how hard could it be? He was going to astound the guy with his techniques.

"Okay, Rowlet, let's go! Use Tackle!" Rowlet popped out of his Poké Ball and knocked Pikipek with its claws. The small bird Pokémon squawked from the sudden attack and began to peck the small owl. "Fly up! Dodge it!" Rowlet's wings were short and stubby compared to Pikipek and was outstripped easily. It received another storm of Peck attacks.

"Don't give up. Get some distance between you two and use Leafage!" The owl hooted and showered the wild Pokémon with a barrage of leaves.

Professor Kukui smiled as he watched Liam continued his commands. The boy had a natural sense of leadership and confidence behind all the sullenness. He would be a good candidate for…

"Okay, let's go!" Liam threw a Poké Ball into the air. However, he lobbed too high and missed his target. Realizing this, Pikipek squawked in anger before flapping its wings and flying off. Rowlet tried to catch up but its short wings were no match. The wild Pokémon was long gone.

"It got away! But why?" Rowlet came back, looking despondent.

"Not as easy, huh?" Professor Kukui couldn't help but chuckle at Liam's cheeks, puffed out in frustration. "Here," he handed the boy a Potion, "go heal Rowlet and I'll get that Poké Ball back." Professor Kukui combed through the tall grass and handed the item back to Liam.

"We always try to weaken the Pokémon first before trying to capture," he explained, "and even then, it's not always a guarantee. Battling is not the only skill a trainer needs; they also need the timing and the sense of when to catch the Pokémon. That's why we professors rely on trainers and professional catchers to help us out. We want to study all types of Pokémon, but some are not so easy to make friends with."

"Did you know that was going to happen?" Liam asked, sulkily.

"No," he admitted, "but at least you are aware it may happen in the future. It's your first time so don't think too much about it. It takes practice and experience."

"We catch Pokémon to help us understand them more, but we don't force them to do our bidding. That is the way of Alola. We have what you call a symbiotic relationship, one where we both help each other in need, and you don't need a Poké Ball to do that." Professor Kukui looked at the horizon and noticed the dipping sun into the background. The redness of the sky was already turning into a dark, inky purple. A couple of stars could already be seen twinkling.

"That concludes today's lesson, woo! We should probably get going to the festival."

…

 _Iki Town_

It was a slow walk after that disheartening battle, but the party seemed to be at full swing even though it hadn't started yet. The town looked the same as yesterday, except there were lit up tiki torches along the pathway. Professor Kukui and Liam were a couple of feet away from the entrance and they could already hear the chatter. The smell of barbeque and fresh fruit mingled in the air.

"As you know, the Alola region is made up of four islands; each island has their own guardian Pokémon," Professor Kukui explained a bit, "Our festival today is held to express our thanks to these guardian deities for always remaining by our sides. It's not much, but at least every last one of us goes all out."

"Professor Kukui!" A local resident called out, spotting the two. "Do you have a minute? We need your help."

"Oh, sure, no problem; Liam, go ahead and mingle with everybody until the festival starts." Before Liam could object, the professor headed towards the man.

 _Mingle?_ Liam glanced around, feeling a familiar rising discomfort in his chest. He glanced around and noticed that quite a few people were already here, way more than yesterday. Some didn't look like locals and he suspected that, from the way they were dressed, they must have come from another town.

People were staring at him again. However, compared to yesterday, they all seemed rather fascinated and whispered excitedly. They keep staring at him and made no effort to hide.

Did he stand out that much?

"Kekekeke!" Liam's uneasiness was interrupted by unusual laughter. A couple of people looked equally puzzled by the strange sound. Trying to find the source, he looked around and noticed a small shadow overhead. Glancing up, he saw a purple monkey Pokémon swinging on the vines with its tail.

 _An Aipom!_ Wide-eyed with fascination, he moved closer for a better look. Liam had seen them on television but never in person. Though… now that he thought about it, he didn't read anything about them being a native species in the Alola region. So, where did this Aipom come from? Suddenly, the Pokémon hopped onto his shoulder, and before Liam could comprehend what happened, it swiped his hat with its tail and jumped onto the ground.

"Hey!" The purple monkey giggled, as it placed the hat on top of its head. "Give that back!" Liam lunged at the thief but missed as it ran off into the crowd. However, it didn't get too far.

"Aipom! No! Give that hat back right this instant!" A girl came over, scolding the little purple monkey. She grabbed the cap off the Pokémon's head and walked towards Liam.

"Sorry about that," she said apologetically as she handed it back. "Aipom, apologize!" The monkey bowed its head, but the smile on its face clearly showed no remorse. "Urgh, honestly… Aipom is a bit mischievous and really loves stealing hats… Can't say why though. Again, I'm so sorry."

"It is okay. Thanks."

"Say, I've never seen you here before," the girl leaned in, analyzing Liam's face from every angle. "Are you a local or are you from another island?" She had gray eyes like Liam though hers were filled to the brim with curiosity. He involuntarily took a step back from the closeness. "Wait… are you…?"

"Oh Liam! Glad you could make it!" As if on cue, Hau appeared, looking out of breath. Liam was relieved to see a familiar face.

"I knew it! You're Liam!" The girl's eyes widened with amazement, turning to the boy with renewed interest.

"Ummm, yeah. That's me."

"Oh my gosh! You are the one who got that sparkling stone from Tapu Koko!" She looked as if Liam was some renowned celebrity.

 _Wow, word travels fast_ , Liam thought, wondering, again, who this girl was.

"Oh sorry," she exclaimed as though she read his mind, "I forgot to introduce myself." She cleared her throat and gave a funny wave.

"Alola, I'm Ally Sun! That's A-L-L-Y. Not A-L-L-I-E. And this here is my partner – Aipom." The monkey giggled mischievously as it rested on her shoulder. She had on a yellow-white t-shirt with faded flower-prints and sea green shorts. On her head was a pink beanie where the top flowered outwards. She also had on a rather large watch with a thick metal band around it on her wrist.

She wore an easygoing smile like Hau, but while he was more laid-back, Ally was bursting with energy and excitement like fireworks in the night sky. She had a natural impish look on her face, but she seemed genuinely nice. "Nice to meet you, Liam."

"Hi. It's nice to meet you too."

"No, no, no! It's Alola!"

"What?"

"When you greet someone here, you need to say Alola. Like this – Alola!" She moved her hands in an outward circular motion. "Come on. You try it!"

"Oh okay. Alola," Liam copied Ally's movement though he felt silly in doing so.

"Ally, it is not a requirement," Hau said, noticing Liam's embarrassed face, "Most people here are fine saying 'hello' or 'hi'."

"Oh, come on Hau! Liam needs to learn how to be a proper Alolan resident. How do you expect him to be culturally accepted if you are lax on educating him?"

"Ally, is it?" Liam interrupted, desperate to change the subject, "Your Aipom… Are you not from around here?"

"Oh, you noticed, huh?" She grinned as twirled in place; her Aipom ran from one shoulder to the other. "Yeah, I'm actually from the mainland as well – Johto. Aipom and I moved here about six months ago, but I only started my path as a Pokémon Trainer a month ago."

"Don't let your guard down," Hau warned, "She is my toughest rival."

"Hau! Don't call me tough! Call me your most-beautiful-and-talented rival!"

"Huh? That's way too long."

"Not as long as your sleep cycle." Ally laughed, slapping Hau on the back.

"Oww. How does slapping me not describe you as tough?" Hau said, but he continued to smile.

"Oh," Liam said slowly, "no one told me someone here also came from the mainland."

"Well, to be precise, I don't live here on this island; I'm actually living in Ula'ula Island. I do visit this place a couple of times, and when I come to Melemele Island, I usually stay at Hau'oli City. I got to know Hau because his grandfather is the Kahuna, so we've became good friends."

"So, are you here for the festival?" Ally shot a look at Hau and spoke carefully.

"Actually, I came a couple of hours ago to take on the island challenge and since the festival was also going on, I decided to stay here a bit to have some fun."

"Take on the… what?"

"The island challenge! Wait, Hau, didn't you tell him about it?"

"Well, he just got his Pokémon yesterday, so we didn't have a chance…"

"Oh, come on! You can't expect me to do everything, right?" She sighed before turning back to Liam.

"You can consider it as the mainland's Pokémon League challenge with gym leader puzzles thrown into the mix. The island challenge can be taken by any trainer who is at least eleven years old. There are four islands in total and each one has one Kahuna, who you can consider to be the Elite Four in this case. In order to battle the Kahuna though, you must first past their trials which vary depending on the island."

"Makes sense," Liam nodded. "You said you took on the island challenge, right?"

"Ally here completed it," Hau added. "And beat my grandpa."

"Wow, congratulations."

"Thanks, but this is my second time taking this trial, so I have experience," Ally said, humbly, "Hau's grandpa was really tough. But I trained, caught more Pokémon, and won the second time. Here." She pulled something out of her backpack. Upon closer inspection, Liam saw that it was a small handheld yellow metal amulet in the shape of a trapezoid. There were blocks of the colors yellow, red, pink, and purple on the amulet and the same respective colors of beads tied to the loop of leather attached to the amulet.

"This is proof that I'm a trial challenger," Ally explained. "Every challenger gets one at the start of their journey. And here -" she pulled out a passport and opened it, "- is proof that I completed the Melemele grand trial. You can think of it as my badge case." On the page she had turned to, there was a stamp that looked like Tapu Koko.

"It's a lot of fun," Ally added as she put the items back into her messenger bag. "The trials require you to strategize and train your Pokémon to work harder than ever. I think what they do here is a lot harder than the Pokémon League back at home." She glanced up at Liam. "You should take it too! I bet you would love it as well."

"Maybe." Liam said, acting nonchalantly and shrugging his shoulders. However, he was curious now. He wanted to know more about this Alola island challenge and what kind of trials they have. As much as he hated to admit it, he could feel a tinge of excitement inside of him.

"NO WAY!" Ally suddenly screamed, pointing to Liam's wrist. "Is that the limited edition watch from Proteam Omega?!"

"You know it?" Liam gaped in surprise.

"Know it?! Who doesn't know about it?"

"Prote-what?" Hau scratched his head. "What's that?"

"Your purpose here in my life is to prove me wrong about everything, right?" Ally glared after a long awkward silence. "Hau, it's like the _best_ show out there! It's about a giant robot called Proteam Omega who defends the world. It's the guardian of the universe and defender of mankind and Pokémon. I've recorded every episode existed; it's one of my favorite shows!"

"Oh yeah. Same here," Liam held his wrist up to show off the accessory. "Pretty cool, huh?"

"No way!" Ally repeated, "How did you get it? I must've sent a thousand postcards to try and win that thing!" She stared at it with immense jealousy.

"My friends and I chipped in, and they gave it to me when I…" Liam couldn't say the words and fell silent.

"You got really good friends," Ally gave a sad smile. She seemed to know what he was trying to say and, to his relief, changed the topic. "Are you going to wear both that and the Z-Ring? Might look kind of weird to have a watch and a bracelet."

"Huh? Z-Ring?" Another new foreign word to Liam. "What's that?"

"What's that? Wait, Hau! You didn't tell him what the Z-Ring is _either_?"

"Well, I assumed he knew," Hau scratched the back of his head. He didn't seem fazed by Ally's increasing disbelief.

"Oh come on! You know he is new to this region," Ally groaned, "Why am I always stuck with the job of explaining everything?"

"Sorry, but everything was happening so fast that we never…"

"That's always your excuse! You need to properly take the time to think and give all the information before..."

The two continued to bicker (well, Ally complained while Hau just continued being his usual nonchalant self) and Liam was starting to wonder if someone would finally explain what a Z-Ring was when…

"Umm, Liam?" He felt something tug at his shirt. Startled, Liam turned around and saw another familiar face.

"Oh, hi, Lillie." He gave an unsure smile. He noticed she was carrying the large duffle bag as per usual. "How's Nebby?" He whispered carefully, making sure no one could overhear them.

"Oh good. It's staying hidden." There was a small squeal and movement coming from the bag and she struggled to keep it in check. "I'm glad to see you're doing well," she added, relieved to see the scratches and wounds on Liam's arms properly taken care of and fading away.

"Yeah, you too. After last night, I could barely sleep a-"

"Huh? Who's this, Liam? Your sister?" Ally asked, peering over his shoulder.

"Oh, Lillie!" Hau smiled brightly. "I'm so glad you could come!"

"So… You're Lillie…" Liam stood aside so that Ally could get a good look at the girl.

"H-hello," Lillie said quietly; Ally replied with a crushing hug.

"Lillie! It is so nice to finally meet you!"

"I-It is?" Lillie stiffened from the gesture.

"Of course! I didn't get a chance to see you last time I came here." Ally gave her funny wave. "Alola! I'm Ally. That's A-L-L-Y. And this here is Aipom… Don't you dare think about it, mister!" She glared at her Aipom who was staring at Lillie's white floppy hat as if it was the ultimate prize to steal.

"A-Alola," Lillie responded back with the same gesture. She looked just as lost as Liam was earlier.

"I've heard so much about you from Hau. He told me everything about you."

"H-He did?" Lillie sputtered. Although the other two didn't notice, Liam was quick to see that Lillie looked terrified. It wasn't from Ally's overwhelmingly spirited personality, but something that was said that put Lillie on edge.

"In fact, you're all he talks about." Ally smiled, "Come on. We need to hang out and have a girl's night out! Bye, guys! See you two at the battle stage later." Before Lillie could object, Ally had dragged the two away from the boys.

"Don't worry," Hau explained at Liam's disbelief. "Ally is energetic, but she won't go overboard. She wanted to meet both of you guys and is just really excited."

"I think 'excited' is an understatement."

"Hahaha, you got that right!"

"There you two are," Kahuna Hala called out, coming over to the two boys. "You guys ready for your battle? I have the stage ready now."

"Yeah!" Hau jumped up into the air. "I'm ready! Let's get started." They arrived at the platform where Liam got his Rowlet. There was a large bonfire going on in the back. The fire crackled merrily as smoke rose up into the air.

"Wait, shouldn't we do this after the festival or something? I mean, it's just a battle, right?" Liam wondered out loud as they reached the platform. The two turned to look at him. "What?"

"Didn't Professor Kukui told you what was going on? He said he was going to when he picked you up… KUKUI!"

"Huh? Oh, hey Hala! What's up?" The professor came over, unaware of the exasperated look on Hala's face.

"Did you tell Liam what we were planning to do with the ceremony?" Liam had a bad feeling about this.

"Oh… Whoops, slipped my mind," the professor laughed. "My bad, my bad. I'll do it now.

"See here Liam; we battle in the name of Tapu Koko, pitting our best moves against one another in friendly competition to please our guardian. Woo!"

"What kind of explanation is that?" Kahuna Hala sighed, before adding, "We usually have two youngsters to partake in this one-on-one battle. It is a huge honor and we nominated you two for this."

 _Without giving me the details?_ Speechless, Liam was wondering if this was the actual Alolan custom – not explaining anything thoroughly until just before the actual thing happens.

"You stand over here, Hau, and Liam, you over there. We'll begin in a couple of minutes. Don't worry," Kahuna Hala added to Liam's apprehensive face. "Just have fun."

…

"Everybody!" Kahuna Hala called out from the top of the wooden platform. Immediately the area quieted. "Ahem! We're ready to start the ceremony!" Everybody immediately surrounded the platform and looked at the two trainers with great interest.

"For all life on our islands… and for those who undertake the island challenges with joy in their hearts… We pray for your protection… for them and all Melemele.

"May this Pokémon battle be a fine offering to our guardian deity – Tapu Koko," Kahuna Hala said and cheers followed from the crowd.

 _I think I have stomachache,_ Liam thought, feeling the pressure as Kahuna Hala continued with his speech about how important this festival was. Hau, on the other hand, wasn't fazed by the looks and kept a relaxed stance.

 _How in the world is he not nervous? Everybody is expecting to witness the most spectacular battle ever and if that obnoxious rooster doesn't like it, who knows what will happen?_ Liam could imagine a lot of things worse than having a rock thrown at one's face.

"Before you stands Hau – grandson to the Kahuna." On cue, Hau walked up the small steps and onto the large wooden platform before him.

"Before him stands Liam – the one who met with Tapu Koko." Liam followed suit, but he could feel his legs shaking. There were murmurs of excitement from the crowd now, and Liam suddenly realized the whisperings and stares of curiosity from earlier. That explained why Ally was so interested in him. Word definitely got around and they all now thought he was this amazing person.

"Good luck you two!"

"You'll do great!" People were calling out words of encouragement, but Liam's stomach still hurt. He was sweating bullets and it wasn't because of the summer heat.

"Liam! Kick Hau's butt!" Startled, he turned to see Ally yelling from the back of the crowd. She gave a grin and waved her hand wildly in the air.

"Ally!" Hau cried out. "What do you mean by that?"

"What? I'm rooting for the underdog! Come on, Lillie, let's cheer Liam on!"

"Oh umm… umm…" She glanced up at Liam before looking back down at the ground. "G-good luck, Liam," Lillie tried her best to cheer, but it sounded flustered. "Y-you too, Hau. Good luck!"

"Thanks, Lillie. I won't lose now." Hau looked thrilled to receive such words from her. He crossed his right arm over his chest to stretch it out. "As long as we both have a good time, then I think we can call it a great battle, eh?"

 _That's right…_ Kahuna Hala was right. He didn't need to make this into a big deal; he just needed to have fun. Hau was here with the same intent and everybody else was too.

"Yeah," Liam took a nice deep breath and smiled for the first time. "Let's both give it our all."

"Liam! Hau!" Kahuna Hala called out, "Bring forth the power of your Pokémon!"

…

Lillie watched nervously as Hau sent out his Pokémon first. "Come on out, Pichu!" A small yellow mouse Pokémon with large ears hopped onto the stage. It's red cheeks buzzing with electricity.

"Let's go Rowlet!" The little owl that Lillie met yesterday hopped forward, an air of confidence on its face. "Fly up to the sky!" Liam called out.

"Oh, trying to keep your distance? Pichu, Thundershock!"

"Leafage!" A barrage of leaves hailed down the stage as electricity crackled upward into the sky.

"First time seeing a Pokémon battle?"

"Huh?" Lillie was staring so intently that she didn't realize Ally had talked. "Umm, no… but…"

"Look at you," Ally laughed, "There's nothing wrong with liking a good Pokémon battle."

"N-no it's not like that."

"Oh? Does that mean, you're more interested in _someone_ in particular? Someone who helped you yesterday? Your white knight in shining armor?" Ally gave a sly grin at Lillie's red face.

"N-no!" Lillie squeaked. "A-absolutely not!" She could feel her face flushed even more.

"Hahaha, kidding. I know everybody is absolutely interested in Liam after that Tapu Koko thing, so it's no surprise they are all here, watching him to see what he can do."

"Umm, how about you?" Lillie spoke in barely above a whisper. "What do you think about him?"

"You mean as a trainer? Or something else?"

"As a trainer, of course!" Ally couldn't help but grin. It was so cute to see Lillie fluster over such teasing.

"Well, he became a trainer and got his Pokémon yesterday, right?" Ally fell silent as she watched the battle with a critical eye. "You can tell he's been training, and he really is making good progress. His bond with his Rowlet is really showing.

"He doesn't know much about Alolan Pokémon, but Pichu can be found in Kanto, so he isn't at a total disadvantage in knowing how to deal with it. He recognizes Pichu's Static ability and is using long range attacks to avoid that. The grass-type move isn't super effective on an electric Pokémon, but considering that Rowlet is a flying and grass type, moves are limited. But the same can be said for Pichu. Electric moves aren't effective either. They're both slowly dwindling away their opponent's health and it is all about endurance at this point."

"Wow," Lillie replied in surprise. "You know a lot."

"Well, I am a Pokémon Trainer and a trial challenger. I may not look like it, but I like to analyze and develop strategies against my opponents. So far, I say he'll make a more excellent rival for Hau if he keeps this up. Maybe he can help motivate-"

"Rowlet! Leafage! And Tackle!" There was a sudden small explosion and something flew into the air before crashing back down onto the ground.

"Pichu!"

"Pichu is unable to battle. Liam is the winner!"

"Typical," Ally sighed.

"Huh?"

"It was a no brainer that Liam would win, and no doubt Hau is just going to laugh it off."

"What do you mean by that?" But Ally didn't reply as the crowd around them cheered. She frowned slightly, deep in thought. Then, all of a sudden, she flashed a mischievous grin.

"What do you say we kick things up a notch?"

…

"Another great battle this year! Hoo-ee!" The crowd was really happy.

"I bet Tapu Koko was really pleased."

"That was awesome," Hau grinned, coming over to Liam. For someone who lost, he didn't seem fazed at all. "That was a really great battle! Better than great! I had a blast fighting you!"

"Now, let us now move on to the cl-"

"WAITTT! KAHUNA HALAAAAA!"

"My, my, such a loud voice!" Laughter rippled across the crowd. "Who called my name?"

"Me!" Ally grinned from the crowd, her hands waving high in the air. She didn't seem fazed by the attention she was getting and reveled in it. On the other hand, Lillie looked around, embarrassed. Ally hurried to the stage and the crowd parted for her.

"Ally, is there something you want?"

"Kahuna Hala, I want to battle against Liam!"

 **Author's Notes**

AHHHHH! Ally wants to battle! SO HYPE RIGHT NOW! NEED NEXT CHAPTER! (That's what I'm assuming is going on through 80% of my readers' head. Lol.)

Speaking of Ally, yes, she is based off of the "Moon" character. A little bit of background on this character and to answer some questions I've had in the past about naming. I called her Sun because to be honest, her character design and her cheerful smile reminded me of the energy and happiness that is usually associated with it. I know everybody has their own opinion and my choice is not 'canon' to the game, but I really do think she does represent the sun while Liam is the moon.

I named her Ally because of it is also how you spell the general term 'ally' which means partner, a friend, or something along that line. Also, the name Ally means defender of mankind which relates to my guardian theme that I have going with Liam's name (which also means guardian). Basically, there are two meanings to the name and they are important to who Ally is – a friend and a protector.

And she is a Pokémon trainer too! Just like Liam and Hau! I remember one of my readers mentioning before that in all of my Pokémon stories (before this one), I have not make a main female character a serious Pokémon trainer. Well, we are breaking new ground now and we have a pretty and tough trainer. Does Liam have what it takes to defeat her? Will he even be able to battle against her?

We shall find out in the next chapter. (Watch as this author hype everybody up and then post the new chapter saying, "Nope! No battle! Jk." XP)

This chapter is filled with a lot of stuff and I hope it didn't overwhelm everybody too much.

Thanks for reading and I'll see you then.

 **-JapanDreamer**


	7. The Sun Challenges the Moon

Hi everybody!

For those who are unaware, I am currently on vacation. Which means limited internet and computer access and therefore, limited chapters.

However, I did some writing before I left which is why I managed to post this chapter up.

I hope everybody is having a wonderful summer and those who are in school, good luck!

Thanks **villomaru** for editing!

Enjoy!

 **Chapter 7:**

"Why am I not surprised?" Kahuna Hala shook his head as he laughed at Ally's demand.

"Please! Let me take on Liam!" she insisted again, "I'm a much better opponent than Hau. He NEVER takes anything seriously."

"Oh, come on, Ally. I do put in a good fight," Hau grinned good-naturedly, not at all insulted by the comment.

"Yeah! We saw her match against you, Kahuna Hala! She definitely would give us a good match!" Someone yelled from the crowd and got a roar of approval.

"Tapu Koko would definitely love to witness another battle!" Another added and the cheers from the crowd were now deafening.

"Sure, why not?" Kahuna Hala laughed before turning to the only one who remained quiet this entire time. "Liam, are you okay with that? I know the crowd is all for it, but Ally has more experience in Pokémon battling. I wouldn't hold it against you if you would prefer to battle another day."

To be honest, Liam was overwhelmed by the sudden turn of events. He didn't expect Ally to suddenly jump in the spotlight and demand to battle. She was, just like he had pieced together, impulsive. However, Hau had mentioned that Ally was a strong trainer and that she won against his grandfather in the Melemele Grand Trial.

"Of course," he nodded, feeling a crackling of excitement running through his body. "I would be honored. That is if… Rowlet, would you like to battle again?" The little owl Pokémon gave a hoot of agreement as it flapped its wings.

"Yay!" The young girl hopped on to the stage and hurried to her spot where Hau once stood. "Ally here, reporting for duty!" She saluted, clearly ecstatic. "Prepare to be amazed!"

"Liam…" The boy heard his name and noticed Lillie standing near the platform. "Here. You should heal up Rowlet before the battle… No, Nebby… You stay in the bag." Lillie struggled to take out a Potion from the duffle bag. She sprayed the medicine onto Liam's Rowlet.

"Oh, thanks, Lillie," Liam said, slightly taken aback by the kind gesture. It didn't occur to him that he should heal up his Pokémon before the battle.

"I don't like seeing Pokémon fight one another since they so often end up getting hurt," she mumbled, looking down at her white boots. "But I'll be cheering you on."

"Oh," Liam suddenly feeling awkward now and stared at his own feet. "Thanks."

"Trainers," Kahuna Hala called out, "Ready for battle?"

"I am!" Ally called out, waving from the opposite side, doing some stretches, reaching her arms to the opposite side. Aipom hopped off her shoulder and stood by her side. "Ready, Liam? Finished healing?"

"Ready!" Liam called out.

"G-good luck." Lillie said before stepping back.

"Trainers! Send out your Pokémon!"

"Let's go, Rowlet!" The owl Pokémon puffed its chest out with pride as it hopped onto the center of the stage.

"Let's go!" However, instead of sending out Aipom onto the field like Liam had expected, Ally pulled out a Luxury Ball from her bag. She gave a wicked grin as she threw the ball into the air, revealing a…

 _A Pikachu?_ However, it looked nothing like the ones Liam had seen in Kanto. This Pikachu had no arms and was more gray than yellow with two black holes in the center of the stomach. It looked rather sickly as its head twitched up and down and floppy ears flailed.

"Let's win this, Mimikyu!" Ally said, not at the least bit alarmed about the Pokémon's eerie appearance.

"Come on you two!" the people shouted, "Give us a good battle to watch!"

Confused by the lack of concern in the crowd as they continued to shout, Liam recalled reading somewhere that some Pokémon commonly found in Kanto evolve to take on a different form in the Alola region. Was this an Alolan Pikachu? But Ally called it 'Mimikyu', not Pikachu… Maybe that was a nickname?

 _It'll be fine_ , Liam thought apprehensively. Rowlet was part grass, and Pikachu was the evolved form of Pichu. Any electricity attacks dished out will not be as effective against him.

"Begin battle!" Kahuna Hala called out.

"Mimikyu, Double Team!" Immediately, the Alolan Pikachu started multiplying onstage, each copy was a shadow of the original. Rowlet hooted in alarm at the increased number of opponents surrounding it.

"Scratch!" While panicking, Rowlet failed to see the attack before it was too late. It bounced across the stage.

"Don't panic. There is only one real Mimikyu. Rowlet, fly high the sky and use Leafage!" The Pokémon recovered and immediately flapped its wings. It showered the ground with a barrage of leaves. The clones immediately dissipated after the leaves made contact with them, leaving only one remaining.

"Mimikyu! Run!" The little Pokémon scampered across the wooden platform, its head flopping left and right. But it couldn't dodge all the attacks, and it screeched with pain.

"There's the real one! Use Tackle!"

Rowlet charged straight at the Pokémon… and crashed onto the wooden platform. There was a hoot of laughter from the crowd, and Liam felt his ears burn.

"Mimikyu," Ally ordered, not joining in the laughter, "use Scratch!" Liam saw the same black claw-like shadow come out from the bottom of its feet as it extended out toward Rowlet.

"Dodge!" Rowlet barely managed to avoid the attack and took to the sky again. "Try Tackle again!" This time, Liam saw it. The Tackle went right through Mimikyu. So, there was no mistake, Rowlet didn't just miss the first time.

 _Okay, don't panic. There must be a reason Rowlet didn't hit it._ Liam may be at a disadvantage in knowing Alolan forms, but he wasn't going to make the same mistake twice… or thrice in this case.

So, first off, what status move was Ally using to avoid such an attack? She didn't give any sort of order or any signal. The attack went through, so it wasn't like Rowlet missed to begin with.

Unless… Unless this Mimikyu was a ghost-type. Of course! Liam remembered that Alolan versions of the same Pokémon may be different types from their Kanto. That could explain the ghostly hand.

"Looks like you figured it out," Ally grinned from the other side. Liam was quick in his observation and the realization on his face told her that he was going to be a tough opponent to overwhelm.

"Leafage!" Liam replied, not wasting any minute. It was unfortunately the only damaging attack at his disposal that wasn't a normal-type. However, an advantage of it was its long range attack. Ally's Pikachu would not be able to…

"Oh, we're not going to lose! Mimikyu, use Shadow Ball!" A dark energy ball crackled in energy and Mimikyu shot it high into the air. Rowlet's Leafage attack could not stop it and before it could make an escape, the Shadow Ball slammed against it, causing it to plummet.

"Rowlet!" However, the owl rolled off the stage, unable to get back up.

"Rowlet is unable to battle," Kahuna Hala announced, "Ally and Mimikyu are the winners of this match!"

"Yes!" Ally jumped high into the air and punched her fist to the sky. "Way to go." She gave the Pokémon a joyful hug. It replied with an unsettling gagging sound as though being choked. Liam hurried off the stage and picked up Rowlet. Despite the dizzied look in its eyes, the Pokémon seemed to be fine.

"Told ya she was strong," Hau grinned, walking over to Liam. "Don't feel too down though. She's got a month of training already."

"Is Rowlet okay?" Ally suddenly appeared, looking concern. Her Mimikyu scampered over as well, its head flailing from side to side.

"Yeah, it's fine. Just knocked out." Liam looked down as snores drowned out his words, "And now it's asleep."

"Pfft. HAHAHAHA," Ally couldn't help but laugh. "Asleep during the night? Not a very good owl, is it?" She wiped a tear from her laughing face before she managed to calm down. "Still, I'm glad it's not badly hurt."

"That was a splendid battle," Kahuna Hala said, appearing before them. "You two did amazing."

"Told you, Kahuna Hala," Ally grinned. "I always keep my word."

"You sure do. With this, even Tapu Koko…"

"Ko-ko-kooooo!" The cry suddenly punctured through the air that sounded like…

"Ho! You heard it yourself!" Kahuna Hala announced to the audience. "Tapu Koko's song of approval. Now that the battle is over, let the festivals begin!" There was a roar of excitement that went through the crowd and they soon dispersed, ready to start with the fun. Some congratulated Liam, Hau, and Ally for their fine performance before heading off.

"Liam!" Lillie immediately hurried over, "How is Rowlet?"

"Good. Asleep," Ally answered for him.

"Here is another Potion." She handed it over to Liam.

"Thanks, Lillie."

"And here's one for you too."

"Look at you, being responsible. I can see why Professor Kukui hired you as his assistant," Ally grinned, accepting the medicine.

"Oh, thank you… I just help out when I can." Lillie looked embarrassed with the praise and looked down.

"Oh, I nearly forgot," Kahuna Hala exclaimed, "I think it is time for you to take this, Liam." He had something in his hand and when Liam took it, he saw that it was a bracelet. It had a white thick band with a black and white diamond pattern.

"What is this?"

"That's the Z-Ring I was talking about!" Ally exclaimed, pointing to her own wrist. Liam immediately saw that what he earlier thought was a watch was the same looking bracelet he had in his hand.

"Z-Ring?"

"Your Z-Ring can draw out a mysterious power that lies deep within Pokémon. We call that power the Z-Power."

"Z-Power…?"

"It does cool things! It's like when Proteam Omega does his elemental attacks in episode 24 against the Dark Stars Empire's evil henchmen – the Ghastly Goons. Remember that one? He summoned the powers of the ice element and-"

"Ahem!" Kahuna Hala coughed in interruption. "Thank you, Ally, but I think you just ended up confusing the boy even more." The girl covered her mouth and grinned embarrassingly. "We Kahunas can make them by refining materials like the sparkling stone that you received from Tapu Koko. It is where you can have the Z-Crystals inserted into them that channel your Pokémon's elemental powers."

Liam stared at the accessory and wrapped it around his wrist. Such a small thing can do something like that? Give Pokémon extra power? He noticed a small slot in the armband where a diamond-shaped item could be inserted and wondered if that was where the Z-Crystal was supposed to be.

"Of course, the only way to get these Z-Crystals," Kahuna Hala continued, "is to complete the island challenge trials in Alola."

"Oh…" Liam stared at the useless accessory.

"Yet, Tapu Koko gave you a sparkling stone… Perhaps it has taken a liking to you… or perhaps it has a mission for you."

 _A mission for me?_ Liam stared uneasily at the armband. He didn't like the idea of being thrown into danger without a say in it.

"Ally, have you mastered the Normalium Z yet?"

"Not yet, Kahuna Hala. I'm still trying to teach Breakneck Blitz to Aipom."

"Hmm, well we'll save the demonstration for some other time. But Liam, like I said earlier, if you are interested, you can get these crystals and try these Z-Moves by completing the Alola island challenge trials."

"Yeah!" Ally said, looking incredibly excited, "completing each trial and defeating each Trial Captain and Kahuna will give you one! Isn't it cool?!"

"I'll leave the explanation about the trials to Ally," Kahuna Hala smiled at Ally's enthusiastic face. "You youngsters take care of yourselves, and remember to enjoy the party."

"The island challenge is so much fun!" Ally exclaimed. "The goal is to become the strongest trainer – the island challenge champion! It's just like the Pokémon League Champion back in Kanto. You will definitely like it."

"I suppose so…"

"Besides, what's the point of having a Z-Ring if you don't have any crystals," she added. "Come on, even Hau is going for it."

"Really? You're taking the island challenge?"

"Yes," Hau exclaimed excitedly, "I turned eleven just last week. Hey! We should go together. It'll be a lot of fun."

"I guess…?"

"Lillie, you too!"

"M-Me?" Lillie sputtered, surprised that she was suddenly being pulled into the conversation.

"You should come with us," Hau smiled, "I think you'd really like it."

"Seconded," Ally said, "Travelling around the Alola region is a grand experience. As Professor Kukui's assistant, you should familiarize yourself with the islands and what they have to offer."

"Oh, I don't know… I…"

"Hey, Liam, Ally, Hau, and Lillie!" The professor came over, cheerful as one can be. "I see you got your Z-Ring, Liam. Congratulations!"

"Thanks, professor."

"Looks like it's time for you to get out there and start your island challenge."

"Professor, me and Liam will be taking on the challenge tomorrow."

"Really? Well, in that case…" Professor Kukui was distracted in this thoughts and quickly turned to his assistant. "Lillie, I'm sorry for asking, but I need your help with something."

"Oh yes, ummm… I'll see you later." She gave a hasty bow in apology before running off.

"We should get something to eat," Hau exclaimed, "The malasadas are to die for!"

"Whew, this is amazing," Ally smiled, "I got to meet you, Lillie, and had a really fun battle. By the way, good job out there, Liam. You are definitely more of a challenge than Hau here."

"Oh, don't be like that, Ally," Hau grinned, "The most important thing is to have fun."

"It's not fun if the opponent doesn't take you seriously."

"You know, you really had me there," Liam interrupted, not wanting another argument between the two, "I've never seen an Alolan Pikachu before, and it didn't occur to me it could be part ghost." Hau and Ally turned to Liam and gave him a funny look. "What?"

"Liam, Mimikyu isn't an Alolan form of Pikachu. In fact, it's not even a Pikachu, so to speak; this entire thing you see is actually a costume it likes to wear."

"What?!" He glanced down at the Pokémon or rather, the costume the Pokémon was wearing. "Then why does it dress up like one?"

"I couldn't tell you. I think Mimikyu dresses up as a Pikachu because it is a popular Pokémon. I mean no one can say no to a cute Pikachu."

"Meaning?"

"Well, Mimikyu is... I guess, it just wanted friends and it thought looking like Pikachu would work."

"The truth is," Ally gave off a sinister grin. "there were rumors that the last person to lay eyes on its true form, was overwhelmed by terror and died from shock." Liam glanced uneasily at the Pokémon. It seemed harmless, however creepy it looked, but it clearly had a sinister power hidden inside.

"Of course, it's just rumors," Ally continued, "No one has really seen a wild Mimikyu before, not even the people who live here."

"What? No one?"

"Well, they know what a disguised Mimikyu looks like, but it is a rare and extremely hard Pokémon to catch," Hau explained. "Ally's here really goes to show how good she is."

"It's nothing really," Ally said humbly, "My mother is an expert Pokémon catcher back in Johto. She taught me a lot, so I know a lot about the kinds of Poké Balls to use to catch what Pokémon and where to aim for a critical capture."

"An expert catcher?" Liam's eyes widened with amazement. Pokémon catcher was an elite profession as well as an extremely difficult one. It required trekking in dangerous places, searching for hard-to-get Pokémon, and a strong and versatile team of Pokémon to carry out the mission. "Your mom sounds amazing."

"I know, right?" Ally beamed, clearly proud. "Top catcher and she used to be a Pokémon coordinator too."

"Hi everybody!" Another voice jumped into the conversation. A voice that Liam recognized immediately.

" _Mom_? What are you doing here?"

"Surprise! I thought I should take a break and come see you." Gloria looked right at home in the festival with her blue floral print maxi dress that showed off her figure. There was even a pink hibiscus flower in her hair. "You were amazing up there."

Liam blushed. Nothing was more embarrassing than having his mom gush in front of his peers, especially after losing the battle.

"And who are these two?" She glanced over at Liam's companions. "Friends?"

"Alola!" Ally immediately spoke up first and gave her proper Alolan welcome. "I'm Ally. That's A-L-L-Y. Not A-L-L-I-E."

"I'm Hau." He grinned and gave a friendly way. "We're friends of Liam."

"Nice to meet you, Ally, Hau. I'm Gloria Moon – Liam's mother. Thank you for taking care of my son. Both of you definitely need to come over to our house and have dinner sometime. I would love to get to know the two of you better. I'm sure you guys would like to try out some Kantonian homemade food."

"Moooommmm…" Liam grumbled, embarrassed.

"Sorry, sorry," Gloria said, unable to hide a grin. "I'm just glad to see you made some good friends. That's all." There was a brief pause before she smiled again. "Have you decided yet?"

"Decided what?"

"About the island challenge? Professor Kukui told me about it."

"Oh hey, Hau! Let's go get some of that malasada. It was nice talking to you, Mrs. Moon!" And with that Ally dragged Hau off, leaving Gloria and her son for some alone time.

"It's been a while since I've seen it."

"Seen what?"

"That smile you always had back at Kanto."

"You mean back at home. My real home."

"Liam…" Gloria sighed. "Aren't you tired of this?"

Liam looked down at his feet again. "Yeah… But I don't belong here, Mom. I don't know where I belong but it is definitely not here." Gloria could see the small tears her son was fighting back.

"I understand. Believe me, I do." Gloria wanted to hug her son, her little boy, but now was not the time. "I wish I could make everything you're feeling go away, but I also know that I want you to grow. So please, Liam, I know this move is hard, but can we give it a chance? Together?"

There was a long silence, and Gloria took it as a hopeful sign.

"So, about those trials… Are you thinking about participating in them?"

"Maybe…" He looked on out at the festival. "I am…uh… going to get some food." He quickly ran off and Gloria didn't stop him. She knew when he needed some time alone.

…

The festival was already in full swing. The succulent smell of tropical fruit and grilled meat filled the air, but Liam merely sat near the bushes, almost hidden from sight. He stared up at the red sky, unsure what to do. The bitterness that he had held on for so many weeks was becoming a wearisome burden to hold. Yet, what would come next frightened him, and he couldn't let go of what he had.

 _Could I just do that? Let go of everything? Just like that?_

"Hey, are you upset?" Liam looked up, startled to see Ally looking down at him from behind.

"What?"

"About the battle. I'm sorry; I didn't realize I placed you in an unfair position. I mean, Mimikyu is a rare Pokémon to begin with and not a lot of people outside the region know what type it is. Hau mentioned that I should've used Aipom instead." She scratched the back of her head in discomfort.

"What? Oh, no," Liam quickly shook his head. "I'm not mad. In fact, you were putting your best Pokémon forward. That's what you're supposed to do. I should've looked up about it on the Pokédex instead of trying to act all cool and all."

"Then what's up?" Ally sat down next to him. It was clear she wasn't budging from her spot until she got an answer.

"Well, I guess, despite all of this," Liam waved towards the festivity before him, "I don't-" He paused for a moment, unsure how he should put it.

"You don't feel like you belong here."

"Yeah," Liam said. "I mean, everybody is nice, but…"

"It's not the same," Ally said, nodding knowingly, "You keep missing home and you can't help but compare what you left behind with what you had with you have now. Don't act all surprised. I moved here from Johto, remember? I know what it feels like to be the 'new kid' around here."

The two fell silent as they watched the festival going in full swing.

"Why did you move here?" Liam finally asked, breaking the silence. Ally took a couple of sips of her mango smoothie before she wiped her mouth and answered.

"I told you my mom is a Pokémon catcher, right? Alola has a lot of unique different forms of Pokémon that cannot be found anywhere else, so she was hired to catch these Pokémon so that they can be researched and studied. Mom's job as a Pokémon catcher requires her to travel back in Johto, but she gets it done fast. I usually have neighbors take care of me for a bit during those times. Unfortunately, her job here in Alola requires her to stay longer than usual. Which is why I'm here."

"What about your dad?"

"My dad's job requires him to stay on the mainland. He helps out with the Pokémon League and moves a lot throughout the different regions. Way more than Mom and definitely for longer periods of time, so I can't stay with him. He visits us as often as he can, though." Liam nodded. It sounded a lot like his situation.

"Wasn't it hard, moving here?" It was a stupid question, but he had to ask. He just need to hear them. The words that he had been holding back. Quiet again, Ally pondered, staring out into the distance.

"Yeah. I was mad at my mom for doing this, but I can also understand why. I couldn't stay mad at her for long." She was quiet again. "And I was tired of being angry all the time. I was so focused on being angry that I didn't look at the opportunity."

"Do you wish you could go back?"

"Hmm, I can't say," Ally said, pressing her index finger against her lips. "I do miss Johto and my dad, but I also realize that Alola is a wonderful place too. I made new friends and met so many new Pokémon. If I leave here, I would be just as sad as I was when I left Johto. The people are wonderful here and I've had so many fun adventures." She gave another glance at Liam as he slowly digested this.

"There's nothing wrong with having two places to call home. All you need to do is give this place a chance. And don't worry, if you feel like you need someone to talk to, I'm here."

"Thanks…"

"Hey, no worries. I'm here to help. So," Ally cleared her throat, ready to change the topic, "now that we battled, I say we are officially rivals."

"Rivals?"

"Yup. And the score right now is 1-0 with me in the lead. Let's work hard together to continue to get stronger. That way our next one will be on even grounds. I'm aiming to be Alola's next island champion. I expect us both fighting for that title."

"You think an outsider like me has a chance?"

"Outsider? Come on, Liam. It doesn't matter where we came from or what Pokémon we have. Who we are doesn't mean we can't do it." She stretched her hand out and he shortly hesitated before taking it.

"We may not have a Pokémon League," she said, pulling him up, "but we can still become the strongest trainers Alola has ever seen. We just need to take that step."

And at that moment, without either of them realizing it, their journey will become inextricably linked with the fate of the entire region.

 **Author's Notes**

Hope that battle was enjoyable. I had a lot of fun writing it though the limited attacks did make it difficult.

We got to know a bit more about Ally and her situation, but she seemed to have accepted it. Maybe we will see her parents? (shrugs shoulders)

And we're moving on to the next arc! Whoo! Island challenges, here we come!

Thanks for reading and I'll see you in the next chapter.

 **-JapanDreamer**


	8. Lillie

Wahhh! What's this? More than three stories have been updated in a span of one month? What is this madness? Well, surprise! It's my birthday month! I've decided to celebrate by posting new chapters! BW, Moon Rises, FE, Johto, etc. will have brand new chapters. Some have already been posted so check them out when you can. Expect great things!

So, for those who don't know, I was out on vacation and came back recently. I've been dormant to prepare for this special update. Thank you for being patient and I hope everybody have a wonderful summer.

Enjoy the chapter!

 **Chapter 8:**

Liam woke when the sun peaked at the horizon. Last night's festival had ended without any more incidences, and it was almost midnight when he finally went to bed. However, the exciting new prospective trials had kept him up. Hau and Ally were really excited about him joining them on the island challenge, but was it something he was interested in? He had no clue what it entailed. Ally refused to share her experiences and merely said that Liam should join Hau to take the first one. Hau, on the other hand, seemed just as clueless as Liam.

"Good morning."

"Morning, Mom," Liam mumbled and yawned as he headed over to the kitchen table. During the past few days, Gloria Moon wasted no time learning local Alolan recipes. The table was groaning with native berries and other fruits with a bowl of yogurt and plates of sausages, eggs, toast, and rice.

"Did you stay up again?"

"No," Liam couldn't help but stifle another yawn. "I just couldn't sleep." The smell of breakfast woke him up a bit, and he reached for a piece of toast and a plate of sausages and eggs.

"You're a lot like your dad. If the jet lag doesn't go away, we'll need to give you some medicine."

Both quickly started on their meal before Gloria asked, "Is Hau taking you to see the first trial?"

"Yeah."

"Do you know where it is?"

"Don't know. He said to meet up with him at Iki Town in the afternoon. I'm going to train for a bit before I leave."

"Oh, before I forget, here." Gloria placed a small envelope in front of Liam.

"What's this?"

"Some pocket money for food and other things. I'm sure you two will be exploring the area here." Liam blinked in surprise. He didn't expect this.

"Thanks, Mom."

"Make sure you have a lot of fun, okay?"

"Yeah." Liam wiped his mouth and gathered his empty plate. "Thanks for breakfast."

The mealtime was punctured with the sound of a doorbell chime from the front door.

"That must be Professor Kukui. He'll probably let himself in without even waiting for us to open the door." The two continued to clean up the table, ignoring the chime. However, after a couple of minutes, it rang again. "Huh, that's weird. Maybe it's not him? Liam, go see who it is."

Bewildered now at who could be at the door, Liam opened it and found a familiar person standing before him.

"Hi Liam."

"Oh, hi Lillie." He was slightly stunned to see her in front of his house. She had on the same white dress with the same duffle bag strapped around her shoulder. "Umm, is something wrong? Is it Nebby?"

"Oh, no, it's umm…the professor… The professor asked me to," she cleared her throat and spoke in a deeper voice, "'Hey there, Lillie! Bring me that great new trainer. Woo!' And so, here I am." Liam couldn't help but laugh.

"That sounds exactly like him."

"Y-yes." Lillie didn't expect her poor imitation to get such good reception. Then again, she didn't expect herself to even try to make a joke like that. "Anyways," she cleared her throat and reverted to her proper self, "I'm here to show you the way to his Pokémon lab, if you'll come with me."

"He wants to meet at the lab?" Liam didn't expect that.

"Y-yes. He said there's something he wanted to show you. He has his morning routine to do, so he sent me instead."

"Liam? Is it Professor Kukui?" Gloria called from the kitchen.

"No," Liam yelled over his shoulder, "It's Lillie."

"Wait, did you say 'Lillie'?!" Before Lillie could figure out what happen, a tall tanned woman suddenly appeared out of nowhere with Liam's backpack in hand. Gloria's eyes went wide and round when she spotted the young girl. "So, you're Lillie! Oh, you're so lovely!"

" _Mom!_ "

"Hello," Lillie could feel her face flushing red, "It's very nice to meet you."

"Thank you for visiting. Oh, are you here to show him around? Please take good care of my son," Gloria said. "He can be a handful at times."

"Of course. I mean, he isn't a handful, he's very helpful," Lillie stammered, unsure what else to say. She and Liam wore the exact shade of red on their faces; Gloria tried very hard not to laugh.

"Don't hesitate to stop by for dinner if you want. I'm sure my son would love to have a lovely girl like you join us."

"Mom, we're leaving!" Taking the backpack, Liam quickly grabbed Lillie's hand and pulled her out of the house. He was so embarrassed that he didn't notice Lillie's blushing face as she stared at their joined hands.

"Have fun you two!" Gloria called, waving the two kids goodbye.

"Seriously," Liam grumbled, and once they were a good distance away, he finally let go of Lillie's hand. "Sorry about that."

"N-no! I-I mean, I wasn't expecting it and all, b-but-! I mean, it's not like I hate it or anything and I-!"

"Huh? What are you going on about? I was talking about my mom."

"What? Really?"

"Yeah, that whole thing with dinner and all. What did you think I was talking about?" Liam asked, suspicious.

"Oh n-nothing! It's nothing, I don't know what you were talking about. I don't know what I'm talking about either. What were we talking about? Hahahahaa…" Lillie continued to babble, unable to calm down, her face getting redder and redder by the minute.

"Anyways," Liam said, deciding they need to change the conversation topic before Lillie had a stroke or something. "My mom gets excited over little things like this. To her, making a new friend is deserving of having a fiesta or something."

"I think it's nice. She must be really worried about how you would like it here. She really cares about you."

"I guess," Liam noticed that Lillie was all quiet now as she looked down at her feet. She seemed rather sad. "What's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing."

"You sure?" Liam recognized this same mood from the first time they met.

"Yes, I'm fine. Please don't worry about me. We should hurry to the Pokémon Research Lab." She swiftly took the lead now and led him south of his house. He saw her reach into her bag looking for something, and soon enough she pulled out a Repel. Lillie then began to spray the repellent around the two of them before venturing through the tall grass that teemed with Pokémon. With the conversation was over and feeling like he overstepped his bounds, Liam decided to switch topic.

"Last night's festival was pretty cool, huh? Was that your first time participating?"

"Yes, I had a lot of fun. Tapu Koko is amazing, isn't it? I hope I can meet it again someday and thank it for saving Nebby…"

 _That's right…_ Even if on a whim, the guardian deity Pokémon did rescue him.

"Yeah," Liam said out loud, "Me too."

"It is strange. Isn't it?" Lillie looked at Liam's Z-Ring, "We're both strangers to this place, but it helped you and Nebby and even left you a sparkling stone to make that Z-Ring. Perhaps, it felt like we have a bigger purpose in life."

"I guess…" Liam could feel another question at the tip of tongue and he chewed on it for a long while, trying to decide whether he should ask it or not.

"Liam, are you okay?"

"There's something I've been meaning to ask," Liam abruptly said, "but are you not from Alola, too? I mean, I didn't mention this earlier, but your dress and you said that we both were strangers…"

"Wha-? Oh no, that's not what I mean. I am from Alola. I just… never really… ummm…" Lillie realized her mistake from earlier and scrambled desperately to explain her way out of it. Liam, deciding that it time to say something, interrupted.

"Lillie, I get it if you don't trust me, but to be honest, everything about you has been a mystery. I mean, you said you were the professor's assistant, but you're spraying Repel as though you're terrified of Pokémon. And you're carrying a Pokémon I've never seen before in a duffle bag as though you're committed a crime. I don't mean to pry, but knowing something would definitely make things less awkward between us. Especially about Nebby. I mean, you said it isn't your Pokémon, but why all the secrecy? Professor Kukui and Kahuna Hala weren't surprised about it."

Lillie bit her lips and merely looked down at her feet. Her hands tightened around the duffle bag. Liam almost gave up for a response when she said, "Nebby's real name is Cosmog. It is a very rare Pokémon and came from a faraway place."

"Pew!" A cry came from the bag at the sound of Nebby's real name.

"You mean it's from another region?" Liam pondered out loud as Lillie struggled to keep the Pokémon in the bag.

"Even farther."

"Farther?" What could be farther? Liam scratched his head and looked up into the sky. "Like… from space?" He remembered hearing about some legendary Hoenn Pokémon that were discovered living out there.

"That's what I think," Lillie nodded, "It does have a very strange power that saved me before when I was in danger. It was the same power used at that bridge against those Spearow."

 _That blue light!_ Liam remembered how strange it was that it managed to knock the Spearow away and break the bridge. _So, it really did come from Nebby – I mean, Cosmog._

"But some…" Lillie's voice faltered slightly and her lips quivered as though in pain. "Other people want Cosmog for themselves, to use that power. That's why Professor Kukui has taken me into his care under the pretense I'm his assistant. Nebby and I have been in hiding here for the past three months since then. He and Kahuna Hala are one of the few who know about this." She quickly gave a bow in apology.

"I-I know I didn't tell you this when we first met, but you protected Nebby and… well, you have become someone I can trust. I-I hope you can keep this secret." There was a long silence before…

"I did promise you earlier," Liam said, shrugging his shoulders. "And I don't' intend to break it." He fell silent, realizing how self-conscious he was feeling. "And thanks. For trusting me."

"Yes… and thank you too." Lillie couldn't help but smile with overwhelming gratefulness. She was lucky to have as kind a friend as Liam.

"So," Liam coughed in embarrassment. "speaking of the professor, which way do we go now?" The two had arrived at a crossroad, diverging into two pathways.

"Oh, this way, his lab is near the beach." Lillie pointed to the one leading south. In a couple of minutes' time, they came across a rather broken-down bungalow. Wooden boards were hammered poorly over holes on the roof and on the outer walls. Unless Liam was mistaken, the glass panes were missing from some of the windows. The questioning state of the poor house was quickly answered by the sounds of pounding, crashing, and booming sounds that shook the foundation.

"Oh yeah, Rockruff! Let's go!" A voice that sounded a lot like Professor Kukui roared from inside. "Give it everything you've got!"

"Raaa-oooooohhh! Raff ruff!" Barks from inside responded as the house shook.

"What is going on in there?" Liam stared in bewilderment.

"Professor Kukui says he can research moves better when he is surrounded by Pokémon." Lillie couldn't help but blush in embarrassment for the poor 'first' impression her boss gave.

"While they're beating him up." He stated flatly.

"I'm not too sure on the logic there, but yes. He said it helps him research and understand Pokémon moves better. I think this gives the lab its own unique charm."

"Well," Liam looked unsure of what positive and not-so-awkward things he could say, "I definitely agree on the uniqueness."

"Oh yeah, Rockruff! Let's go!" Professor Kukui continued from inside, "Give it everything you've got! MY BODY IS READY! WOO!" The roof suddenly exploded and dust emitted out from a newly formed hole. "Yeah! There we go! Let's try it again!"

"It looks like we'll have to patch the roof… again." Lillie sighed in disappointment. "And I just got done washing his lab coat… I'll have to stitch it back up again and I still can't sew... The professor is probably going to have to buy a new one."

"Guess we better hurry in," Liam said, still baffled at the nonchalant response to this situation. "Before he brings the whole house down."

…

"Ah, nothing like drinking fresh Berry Juice after finishing morning investigation." Professor Kukui smiled as he sat down on the couch. Liam and Lillie were sitting on the other one opposite to the professor. Liam was personally relieved that the professor stopped his 'investigation' after they arrived and that the house didn't topple on them during the process.

"Rockruff's moves were just so stylin', and I was making good progress with my research," Professor Kukui continued, clearly still excited of the results he made.

Tuning out of the discussion, Liam scanned the entire room. The interior of the house was spacious and in better condition than he expected. The wooden floors were clean without a speck of dust with a blue throw rug at the entrance. There was even a large aquatic tank in the center, teeming with sea creatures that were native to the region. Stairs in back led to the downstairs laboratory where Professor Kukui did his research.

"Raff ruff!"

Liam looked down to see an adorable brown puppy with a curly white fluffy tail that wagged happily.

"Hi?" Liam was unsure what to make of this Pokémon. It seemed cute, but after hearing the crashing and pounding of attacks earlier, he was a little bit scared to go near it. "Is there something you want?" The little canine Pokémon barked again and rolled on its stomach. With slight hesitation, Liam reached over and rubbed its belly. It gave a happy yap, wagging its tail furiously now. There was a serene look on its face.

"Oh, looks like Rockruff likes you," Professor Kukui looked rather pleased, "Careful though, those are pebbles on its neck. They're rather painful to deal with if it decides to give its traditional cuddling greeting."

"Okay," Liam said absent-mindedly, not taking his eye off the Pokémon. Lillie couldn't help but giggle at the cute sight.

"Oh, Liam," Professor Kukui suddenly jumped to his feet, "lemme see your Pokédex for a second."

"Wha-? Oh, okay, sure." Confused, he took out the bulky device from his bag.

"Excellent! Can't forget to give you this… I was worried it wouldn't have arrived in time before you started your journey."

"It?" Lillie repeated. The look of confusion on Liam's and her face were almost identical.

"What's wrong, Lillie? Don't make me do all the talking!" Professor Kukui grinned. "See Liam, there is this Pokémon called Rotom in your Pokédex, yeah."

"Rotom? You mean that electric Pokémon that can possess appliances."

"You did your homework," Professor Kukui said, impressed. "But the Pokédex you have is the new generation of its kind and is specifically designed for Rotom to inhabit in."

"What?" Liam stared at the Pokédex with renewed interest.

"Yup, this is the future – a whole new way for people and Pokémon to communicate. There are only a few of these beauties in the world so far. Hold on a sec." He ran downstairs and came back with a box with strange mechanical parts. He immediately started fiddling with the back. "If I power up the Pokédex with the parts Lillie helped order for me… There!"

 _KZZZZT!_ There was a flash of blinding light that quickly dissipated, revealing a ball of electricity floating in the air.

"What the-?" Liam gaped. The strange thing sped around the room in a flashy manner, leaving a trail of electricity. Rockruff growled at the new visitor and chased it around the house.

"Whoa! Hey now!" Professor Kukui called out, raising a hand. At the sound of the voice, the energy ball stopped, revealing it to be an orange shaped plasma lightning bolt with a white aura surrounding it.

"Sorry 'bout that, Rotom. I scared you, didn't I?"

 _Zzzt?_ The Rotom blinked its blue eyes in confusion at its new surroundings.

"Here, boy! I powered up your favorite 'Dex!" Professor Kukui held up the red device high into the air for the Pokémon to see. "Give Liam here a Helping Hand, yeah?"

Comprehending the situation, Rotom gave a cheerful smile and shot back into the Pokédex. Next thing they knew, the red Pokédex sprang to life. The screen turned on and the outer shape changed so that arms and legs were sticking out. But the most impressive thing is that…

 _It's floating…_ Liam's jaw dropped, shocked at the new development. The device stopped in front of it. Its blue eyes blinked back at him.

"Zzzzt. Nice to meet you, pal!" The Pokédex smiled.

"Oh yeah," Professor Kukui laughed as Liam jumped a mile away. "I forgot to add, Rotom can talk as well in this form!"

"Zzzzt. Gentle on the goods, OK?"

 **Author's Notes**

LOL. Looks like the Rotom Pokedex is ready to roll… so to speak. XP We're finally going to do some travelling in the next chapter!

And to all my reviewers who have been asking if there will be Liam (Sun)X Lillie, this chapter is just for you. XP

Anyways, thanks so much for reading and I'll see you in the next chapter.

 **-JapanDreamer**


	9. A Group Photo

Whoo! I'm on a roll! Got some good writing down. Summer is the best for writing.

Anyways, we're getting started on Liam's journey now that he has the Rotom Pokedex.

Thank you, **villomaru** , for editing!

 **Chapter 9:**

 _[Bzzt. This is Hau'oli City – the largest city in Alola. It consists of three sections – the Beachfront, the Shopping District, and the Marina…]_

Liam immediately tuned out the Rotom Pokédex's voice and tried very hard not to strangle the floating possessed machine… thing. It'd been like this ever since they stepped out of Professor Kukui's house. He could still remember the professor's words.

"Liam," Professor Kukui had said. "I recommend going to Hau'oli City, explore the area, and find a man named Ilima, yeah? He will tell you what you need to do for your trial." He had handed Liam an address on a piece of paper. "Rotom is equipped with a map of the area in case you get lost, and I'll have Lillie show you the way until you get used to using it. Oh! Don't forget this! You'll need it to participate in the island challenges."

It was all straightforward, and Liam was sure things would go nice and smoothly and more importantly, quietly. Rotom had other plans though.

 _[This is the entrance of Professor Kukui's house… Bzzt… Bzzt… this is Route 1… Bzzt… this is Iki Town… this is, this is, this is.]_ Liam almost charged through each area in hopes of it being unable to finish it's long-winded speech, forcing Lillie to jog the entire time. Every constant and nonstop introduction has led it one step closer to being murdered.

 _[Bzzt. I noticed the lack of response from you. This is a telltale sign of a problematic introvert and a very shy individual who lacks the communication skills to start conversations, resulting in very awkward silences and lack of friends in the long run.]_

Liam's ears turned red, realizing that Rotom Pokédex's voice was so loud that the locals heard every word. Some of them giggled at the sight as Rotom continued to blankly look around, unaware of the situation it caused.

 _[You should talk with the locals. It will make you look less hostile. I suggest talking with your travelling companion more. She seems to be giving you a pity look which can lead to intimacy if you take the initiative. Talking to her will boost your friendship status with the opposite gender by four point –ack!]_

Liam immediate grabbed his floating Rotom and started to play around with the functions on the screen. Meanwhile, Lillie blushed furiously and pretended not to have heard a single word the Rotom Pokédex had said.

 _[Bzzt! Hey! Hands off the merchandise.]_

Where is the mute button? Liam desperately thought and started to press random button on the settings page. Apparently, there wasn't one. Go figure.

 _[Bzzt! Let go, shrimp!]_ The Rotom Pokedex slapped his hand in an attempt to escape.

"I'm not a shrimp. The name is Liam," he sighed in irritation but decided to give up for now. "Could you try being a little bit quieter when we're out? With less commentating?" He watched Rotom as it flew around above his head.

 _[Bzzt. Quieter? Less commentating?... Cannot compute meanings.]_

"Sounds like something Professor Kukui would program you to say."

Lillie gave a nervous laugh. "Maybe Ilima could help."

"Doubt it, but speaking of him, do you know who he is?"

"Actually no. Maybe isn't he one of the locals who guides newcomers into the trials?"

"HEYYY!"

Startled, Liam looked up to see two familiar faces near the marina. One of them was waving frantically.

"Liam! Hey, I didn't expect you to be here! Oh Lillie, it's so good to see you too!" Hau called out.

"Liam! Lillie! Glad I got to see you guys before I leave." Liam sighed with relief as he walked towards Ally. She and Hau were rays of sunshine at the end of the tunnel that was this embarrassing trip.

"Leave?" Lillie repeated, puzzled, "Are you going somewhere?" Liam, too, noticed the small white sailboat anchored at the docks.

"I'm heading over to Akala," Ally explained, "I'm going to take the next island now that I'm finished here."

That's right. She did mention something like that yesterday at the end of the festival…

"Hey, you got yourself an amulet!"

"Oh yes," Liam showed the item clipped to his backpack. "Professor Kukui just gave it to me."

"AHHH!" Ally squealed with excitement, "Yes! This is exciting! You are now an official trial goer! You and Hau going to meet up with Ilima now?"

"How do you know about Ilima?"

"Well, he's the first Trial Captain!" Ally grinned happily before she realized the blank look on Liam's face. "Didn't Professor Kukui tell you?"

"No, not really."

"Hau?"

"Don't look at me," Hau grinned nonchalantly, "My grandpa just told me to meet the guy with Liam after sending you off. That's all."

"Honestly," Ally sighed before resuming her role as the instructor, "Well, just a recap, there are seven captains in total, all located on the four different islands of Alola. You can think of them as Gym Leaders, each specializing in a certain type."

"I have to battle all seven, right?"

"No, not exactly, remember yesterday when I said that there are trials you need to pass first before you can challenge the Kahuna? Well, those Trial Captains are the ones who design and preside over them, so you have to beat whatever they throw at you. Once you beat all the trials on one island, you can challenge the island's Kahuna in the Grand Trial. Melemele Island has one trial and that is run by Ilima."

 _[Bzzt. He is also known as the "Prince of the Trainer's School."]_ A familiar robotic voice interjected into the conversation. _[Graduating at top of his class, he then studied abroad in Lumiose City which is in Kalos… Bzzt.]_

"Uhh, what is that?" Hau gaped at the floating device.

"Well, uhh… this is… my Pokédex?"

"Is that a Rotom Pokédex?!" Before Liam could even answer, Ally squealed in realization. "AHHH! I'm so jealous. I always wanted one."

"You can have it."

"What? Really?" Her eyes seemed to sparkle rather luminously.

"Yes. Please."

"Liam," Lillie exclaimed, shocked, "you can't just give the Rotom Pokédex away. Professor Kukui gave it to you personally."

"Wish he'd given me one with a mute button," Liam mumbled, glaring at the obnoxious device.

"JK! I couldn't take it from you," Ally looked thoughtful, ignoring the conversation before her and staring at the red Pokédex. "You know, Rotom Pokédex is wayyy too long of a name to say… I know! I'll just call you Rotodex! Okay?"

 _[New name registered. Bzzt.]_

That quick?! Liam gaped at how willingly Rotom was in complying with Ally's request.

"Great!" Ally gave a twirl in delight. It still amazed Liam how positive and happy she could be in any situation. "So, Rotodex, you can talk and fly and look up on Pokémon info. What other functions do you have?"

"I also come with a camera function."

"A camera?" Rotodex flipped around to show the lens on its back.

"Now here's an idea! Let's take a group photo before I leave!" Ally announced.

"Great idea! It'll be a great souvenir!" Hau said, already jumping on board with the idea.

"Hey, wait!" Before Liam could object, Ally and Hau gathered around Lillie and him as Rotodex positioned itself.

"Okay, we're good to go."

 _[Bzzt. Commencing photo option. Say Bzzt… Cheese.]_

"Bzzt, cheese!"

Liam barely managed to keep his eyes open as the flash blinded him.

[Done.] There was a small beep as a small film paper came out from the slot on the bottom of the screen.

"Thanks! Let's see it!" Liam watched as the three crowded around the picture.

"You look real pretty, Lillie," Hau said.

"Uh, y-yeah." Lillie was so flustered by the praise.

"I agree. Though I must say, I'm very stylish too," Ally grinned. "Here." Arm out, she placed the photo into Liam's hands.

"Huh?" Liam was baffled by the gesture.

"It was your Rotodex who took the photo. We may be going separate ways, but we'll always remember the good times." Ally said, paused, and added, "This can help remind us that no matter how busy we are we should always make time and come back."

"Miss," the elderly captain of the boat called out from portside. "If you want to get to Akala Island before evening, we best be moving."

"Okay, Captain!" Ally called out. "Well, guys," she said as she straightened her bag, "I better be going. Good luck on the Melemele Trial! Make sure to get your Z-Crystals!" She raised her hand to show her Z-Ring. "I expect a good battle the next time we meet."

"Sounds good," Hau laughed.

"You too," Lillie said, sounding insistent, "Good luck on your trial."

"See you later," Liam said absently, glancing down at the photo in his hand. He managed to get a smile on camera though he looked uncomfortable by Ally's and Hau's exploding excitement as they almost squashed him to death. Lillie was on the edge of the frame, looking proper as she gave her best and most formal smile. Overall, it was a very good photo. He carefully placed into his bag, making sure it wouldn't get damaged.

"Wait a minute, about your theory," Hau said, breaking Liam's thoughts, "wouldn't it make sense to make several copies of the photo so we can all be reminded to meet up again?"

"Oh, you're right!" Ally exclaimed and, to Liam's surprise, said, "Then how about we take another group photo the next time we meet? Liam will oversee that." With that, she hopped onto boat and turned to wave to her friends. "This isn't goodbye! We will have to meet again no matter what!"

With that, the sailboat slowly eased out of the harbor and into open sea. Ally continued to wave until the ship disappeared into the horizon.

"There she goes," Hau laughed, "Well, she'll definitely make sure we meet again."

"She definitely will," Liam said quietly.

"By the way, what brought you guys here? I thought we were going to meet back at Iki Town."

"Oh, I'm so sorry," Lillie said, bowing in apology, "Professor Kukui wanted me to show Liam around Hau'oli City. We should've asked you what your plans were first."

"Ah, don't worry," Hau said, not at all hurt, "Everything worked out in the end, and it saves me a trip. Where should we go first?" Already Hau had inserted himself into the group, but like Lillie, Liam didn't mind. Although his energy was a bit much at times, Hau was a fun character to be around.

"Well, I thought about showing Liam to the Pokémon Center first before we saw Ilima."

"Oh, nice idea! You're always on top of things, Lillie! My Pokémon got hurt during my travel." Hau quickly hurried down the street. "It's located in the Shopping District! Let's get going."

"There he goes again," Lillie giggled, "He is always excited to get to the next destination."

[An interesting fellow to be friends with. Perhaps all is not lost for you, young Master.]

"All right! That's it; I'm taking leaf out of Lillie's book. Get into this backpack! NOW!"

…

 _I wish I'd thought of this earlier,_ Liam thought as he continued down the street lined with small windows. Now that Rotodex had been silenced, he was able to appreciate the large city in all its tropical beauty. Although modern in architecture, there was a stone walkway leading down to the sandy beach lined with palm trees and colorful umbrellas. This was no doubt a popular locale, seeing as the sparkling shoreline was positively brimming with beachgoers. Liam had to admit, the sight alone of the beautiful cerulean blue waves made him want to go for a swim. Cars of different colors and model lined the side of the large asphalt road. Here, the people were sporting tropical colors and beachwear. It was a different feel compared to Kanto, but not an unpleasant one by any means.

"Here we are!" Hau cried out, already waiting in front of a red and white building. Liam could immediately tell that this was the Pokémon Center – a place to heal tired Pokémon from battle. With its instantly-recognizable red Poké Ball logo hanging from the top, the center was busy with activity. They just stepped past the automatic glass doors, and already, they could hear the lively chaos. Although it was packed with trainers, tourists, and residents, the building had air conditioner that cooled the room to a pleasant temperature. In the center of the chaos and behind the counter, a pretty young woman with pink hair and a matching nurse uniform was busy with each trainer.

"Well, let's go visit Nurse Joy, Liam." Hau pointed to the end of the line.

"Oh no," Liam immediately said, "I don't need to."

"Wow!" Hau's eyes widened with amazement, "You must have trained a lot with Rowlet! The wild Pokémon here have nothing on you now."

Liam could feel his face flush, too embarrassed to explain that running away from Rotodex's constant blabbing and avoiding each area with wild Pokémon was the real reason why he didn't need to heal. Lillie giggled in the back though she too didn't say a word.

"Well, you guys can wait if you want. I'll be done in a sec." He quickly hurried to the end of the small line and waited for his turn.

"Well, I'll show you around the place even though it's not much."

"It certainly is bigger than the ones back in Kanto," Liam admitted.

"Probably because of the café."

"There is a café?"

"Yes, it's over there," Lillie pointed to the left side. It was a refreshingly-simple place with a modern feel to it. "They sell drinks here for trainers to enjoy while they wait for their Pokémon to be healed, or who are just here to chat. I like to relax there sometimes with a frosty glass of Moomoo Milk. Each Pokémon Center offers a different selection of drinks, and they all offer tips and information about the trials if you need them."

"Hey guys!" Hau reappeared, "They said it'll take a while to heal my Pokémon. Wanna get a drink and wait?" The three quickly found a seat and ordered something. Liam had Lemonade; Hau had Moomoo Milk; Lillie tried the Roserade Tea.

"Where is Ilima's house?" Hau asked after their orders arrived.

"Professor Kukui gave me his address…" Liam mumbled, struggling to find the piece of paper.

"Ilima?" the café owner said, glancing over at the three, "You three looking for him?"

"Yeah, we're trial goers." Hau and Liam took out their amulets for the man to see.

"Well, bad news. You won't find him here in the city."

"What do you mean?" Liam asked.

"He left earlier. Said something about being needed at the Pokémon School, I think. It's down Route 1. He should be back late afternoon if you kids wanna wait."

"Oh, Professor Kukui didn't tell us this." Lillie looked down at her tea.

"Bummer," Hau frowned slightly.

"Well, I'm not surprised," Liam said, finishing his drink. It was incredibly delicious, not too sweet or sour. "I suppose we should go over there and find him."

"Hau?" Nurse Joy called out from her station. "Your Pokémon are ready."

"Thanks!" Hau quickly got up and grabbed the Poké Balls. "Well, I'll see you guys later."

"You not coming?"

"Sorry, but I'm going to have to sit this one out. I want to get something good to eat first! Besides, the owner said Ilima will come be back soon, right? If you're going to go find him, let me know how it goes." Hau said, already out of the door.

"Well that was fast."

"Indeed," Lillie quickly finished her tea as elegantly as possible and got up. "Well, I can show you where the Pokémon School is. It should be an interesting experience."

 **Author's Notes**

Rotodex – the best wingman ever. Or is it best wingrobot? XP

Well, its comments are going to be amusing to hear throughout the whole journey.

And it looks like Ally is leaving the group. :(

But don't worry! She's still in Alola so the chances of meeting up with her again is high.

Also, as you may have noticed, Liam is severely lacking in the Pokémon department. I have a couple of ideas of what he should get, but I would also like the readers' input too. As long as they aren't legendary, I would like your opinions of good Pokémon. Just remember that I'm taking _suggestions_.

Thanks for reading. I'll see you in the next chapter.

 **-JapanDreamer**


	10. One Pokemon Team

WHOO! I'm FREE! Gosh, it's been so long. I'm on break and have more free time to write! This chapter is longer than usual.

Good luck to those taking exams.

Thanks **villomaru** for helping out with the editing.

Enjoy!

 **Chapter 10:**

"How far is the school?" Liam asked as they retraced their steps back onto Route 1. The hot summer air had cooled down in the late afternoon and a gentle breeze came from the ocean.

"We're almost there," Lillie said, pointing down the path that connected Hau'oli City to Route 1. "Maybe about t-"

"PEWW!" Lillie's duffle bag suddenly squealed with excitement as it jumped around.

"No, Nebby. No!" Lillie said firmly as the little Pokémon tried to escape from the duffle bag. "I told you that you cannot be out when there are people." However, it was too late. Liam and Lillie were in the bright spotlight of every passerby's gaze.

"Come on," Liam mumbled, trying to help Lillie and edging them away from the limelight. Although they meant no harm, Liam hated the stares. He managed to lead them down to a more secluded part of the path but soon found himself dealing with an annoyance of his own that had escaped from his backpack.

 _[Bzzt… What is this? You have a Pokémon that I do not recognize… Must obtain data…]_

"NO!" Liam grabbed Rotodex before it could turn around and take a picture of the small creature. It took several agonizing seconds before he managed to cram it back into his backpack. "No pictures!" The last thing he or Lillie need was Nebby's picture up on the internet website search. Granted, Liam didn't know if Rotodex had internet access, but he would rather not take the risk.

"Okay, there we go," Lillie mumbled as she managed to calm the little Pokémon. Sighing with relief, she looked up and realized where they were. "Oh, and here we are! The Trainers' School is… What in the world?!"

Still zipping up his backpack, Liam almost bumped into Lillie as she abruptly stopped. He gaped when he saw why. Impeding their path was a large Pokémon that Liam recognized immediately.

 _[Tauros – the Wild Bull Pokémon]_ Rotodex piped up from the backpack as though to help. _[Although it's known to be a fierce Pokémon, Tauros in the Alola region are said to possess a measure of calmness.]_

"Shush!" Liam hissed, but it was too late. The bull Pokémon heard its name, turned, and spotted the two youngsters. It gave a rather menacing look as it stomped its hoof against the black pavement. Despite Rotodex's claim, this Pokémon did NOT look calm one bit. Lillie shivered as she gripped the straps of her bag.

Liam had seen enough of this normal-type Pokémon back in his hometown to understand the destructive power one can hold and immediately shifted his body to shield Lillie from a possible attack. The Pokémon didn't move from its spot as it kept a steady gaze at Liam who refused to look away.

"Back up slowly," Liam mumbled to Lillie, staying vigilant. He made sure he heard Lillie take a step back before he did as well.

"Hmm? Liam? Lillie? What are you two doing here? Where is my grandson?" The two spun around to see a familiar face coming up from behind them.

"Kahuna Hala." Liam was taken aback before he realized that they were all still in danger, "Ah, wait, the Tauros!"

"Oh hoho, did that thing scare you two? Don't worry, leave it to me!" Kahuna Hala walked past the two alarmed young teens and toward the stubborn bull Pokémon. The glare from the Tauros' eyes didn't faze the old man who petted and whispered calmly into its ears. Liam couldn't make out the words but whatever words were spoken, they calmed the Tauros down. Its eyes not so menacing as before.

"There we go!" Kahuna Hala laughed as he slapped the Pokémon's back. "Sorry for the scare, friends," he added to Liam and Lillie, "I guess I should take old Tauros back home."

"Thank you very much for your help," Lillie said politely.

"Is this Tauros yours?" Liam was slightly baffled. What kind of person just leaves a Tauros walking around and block roads like that?

"Yup," Kahuna Hala laughed. "It's friendly. Why don't you give him a little pat?"

Liam would rather not, but he didn't want to look like a chicken in front of Kahuna Hala or Lillie so he carefully inched forward. Slowly and carefully, he gave the Tauros a small pat and a scratch behind the ears. Its fur felt coarse between his fingers, but the Pokémon seemed to enjoy it and gave a rather happy moo.

"Hahaha, see that? This rascal already loves you!" Kahuna Hala smiled, "Pokémon become happier when we show them some care." He glanced around, expecting someone to pop out of the bush. "Where did Hau go?"

"He's back at Hau'oli City," Lillie properly explained, "I'm here to show Liam the Pokémon School and find Ilima."

"Hmph, I see. Well, you two take care. Oh, and let the teacher know that the Tauros situation has been taken care of. She was the one who called me." With a wave, Kahuna Hala led the bull Pokémon back to Iki Town.

"Wow, that was scary," Lillie sighed in relief as soon as they were out of sight, "I'm so glad Kahuna Hala was here to save us."

 _[Bzzt. If I had a pulse, it would have been racing now.]_

"Forget racing, I thought I was going to have a heart attack," Liam said, feeling his heart pounding against his chest. "Let's get going before another Tauros comes along and gives me one for sure."

…

"Hello?" Lillie's voice echoed in the empty front hall. The heavy glass doors groaned before finally shutting with a thud. Their shoes squeaked against the polished tile floors but it was otherwise silent.

The school was rather ordinary despite its tropical location. The walls wore an ugly shade of yellow that made Liam grimaced from sight and the air smelled slightly of disinfectant. Lockers lined up against the hallways. The only thing that could be considered unique compared to Kanto was its large training fields outside.

Deciding to pass the time, Liam walked around the small space, observing the posters, furniture, and school pride articles. He was studying the trophy case that was gleaming with awards inside when he heard heels clicking against the tile floors and saw in the glass reflection of a woman with short black hair and square glasses.

"Hi, there." She smiled at Liam and Lillie, "I am Mrs. Emily. How may I help you?"

"Hi, I'm Lillie and this is-"

"Liam, yes. I saw you at the festival," Emily added, seeing the surprised look on Liam's face. "You and Rowlet were wonderful."

"Thanks, Mrs. Emily," Liam said, a bit embarrassed. "We just want to let you know that Kahuna Hala took care of the Tauros problem."

"Oh, excellent! Ilima will be so happy."

"He's still here?" Liam looked up expectantly.

"Yes, he is. Ah-" Comprehension flashed across her face. "You are a trial goer. My apologies; I should've realized sooner. Please follow me. He's with the students."

She led the duo up the stairs, down the hallway, and opened one of the classroom doors. "Ilima," Mrs. Emily called into the classroom. There were between six to eight preschoolers crowding around a trainer as he read a story to them. He was dark-skinned, tall, and older than both Liam and Lillie.

"Hi, Teacher Emily," he looked up from the book he was reading, "Has the Tauros left yet?"

"Yes, Kahuna Hala just took care of it."

"Excellent." The young man got up and spotted Liam and Lillie. "Ah, new students?"

"Actually, this here is Liam and Lillie. They are here to see you."

"I see," he smiled, his soft gray eyes twinkled with realization, "Greetings. I'm Captain Ilima." He gave a casual wave and a lazy smile.

Whatever Liam expected, he certainly didn't anticipate this guy to be Ilima, let alone a Trial Captain. Unlike the Alolan natives, Ilima wore a woolen brown vest over a buttoned white collared shirt and matching-colored khaki pants and loafers. And his hair. It was cotton candy pink and swept to one side of his head. Only a small lock of it remained the opposite side and was held in place by a four-leaf clover pendant.

"My apologies. I was intending to leave earlier, but the Tauros was blocking the path. Are you both trail-goers?"

"I am," Liam said while Lillie shook her head.

"I'm just here to show Liam around the area," she explained.

"Oh, then that means you're-"

"Is that's a Z-Ring?!" Liam looked down to suddenly find himself surrounded by the kids. Lillie found herself elbowed to the side.

"Kids!" Mrs. Emily said sharply. "Behave!"

"Can we see? Can we see?" They all asked, ignoring the teacher.

Uneasy, Liam allowed the kids to crowd around him as they gaped in awe at his wristlet. It was strange to find himself so popular. Of course, the popularity consisted of kids who were about half his age, and to be honest, he didn't really know how to react.

"So cool!" One of girl gushed, her eyes sparkling with amazement.

"How many crystals do you have?"

"How many trials have you defeated?"

"Uh… zero."

"Zero?" The class looked incredibly puzzled by this response. Liam blinked in surprise. Wasn't it normal to get the Z-ring first before competing in the trials?

"Wait, I know you!" This came from a darkly tanned young boy with a white t-shirt and tropical sky-blue shorts. "You're that weakling who lost to that girl at the festival yesterday!"

Liam already hated this brat.

"Joey!" Mrs. Emily shouted angrily, "That's very rude. We do not treat our guests as such. Liam is new to this Alola region, and I expect better etiquette."

"Well it's true," Joey smirked and stuck his tongue out at Liam. Before he could return the gesture, the little girl stood between them.

"For future reference, that girl's name is Ally, and she won the Melemele Grand Trial," she said, glaring at her classmate, "Second, why should it matter if a guy lost to a girl? Last time I checked, I whipped your butt in the last mock battle and the one before that."

"T-Those were flukes!" Joey's ears were bright red now.

"Sure, keep telling yourself that." She rolled her eyes in disdain before she turned to Liam. "As class president, I apologize for my classmate's rude behavior. I know that as someone chosen by the Tapu Koko you'll continue to rise to the top."

"Uh, yeah, sure," Liam said, slightly taken aback, "Thanks." It was weird to have a younger kid defending and then praising him, but he had to admit that she handled it way more maturely than he would. Proper with a no-nonsense temper, she was a lot like Kassidy back in Kanto.

"Liam, how many Pokémon do you carry?" Ilima asked, abruptly changing the topic.

"Just Rowlet, so one," Liam said, wondering where this question came from. The kids were looking at him with some sort of pity now.

"Hmm, perhaps you'll want to fill out your team a bit before attempting my trial. It would be difficult without a full set of Pokémon."

Makes sense. Liam never heard of a trainer who could win any Pokémon battles with a single team member. Though to be honest, if he had known Ilima was a Trial Captain, he would've trained first.

"There are many patches of tall grass around here and in Hau'oli City," Ilima offered, noticing Liam's silence. "Once you are ready, you can find me at the docks of Hau'oli; my trial is held in Verdant Cavern."

"Wait, are you leaving so soon?" The kids immediately cried in sadness and all surrounded Ilima again as though impeding him from the door would force him to stay. Even Jerk Joey seemed genuinely down.

"I'm sorry, kids, but I need to go back to my duties."

"Will you come back again?"

"Of course, you guys."

"Kids, what do we say?" Mrs. Emily instructed.

"Thank you, Captain Ilima," the kids changed in unison.

"Now class, break time is over. Who can give me some examples of items Pokémon can carry?"

"Let's go outside, shall we?" Ilima, Liam, and Lillie quietly back out into the long hallway so that Mrs. Emily could continue to teach. The three walked down the stairs and back out to the entrance of the school.

"I better be going. I have some things I need to take care of, but I sincerely look forward to your challenge, Liam." He held out his hand and Liam took it.

Ilima also gave a small gracious bow to Lillie as well. "It is very nice to meet you too. I hope to see you as well."

"Yes, thank you Captain Ilima." The two watched as the Captain returned back to Hau'oli City.

 _[What was that about having only one Pokémon?]_

"What?" Liam looked up to see Rotodex floating above the two like a weird halo.

 _[If you haven't noticed, I'm a Pokémon as well.]_

"Trapped in a tiny box," Liam said dryly.

"Well, what are your plans now?" Lillie asked.

"I'm taking Ilima's advance and try to find new Pokémon. I think there should be some good ones here."

 _[You should search south of here. There are some good Pokémon you can catch.]_

"Wow, for once, you're actually useful," Liam noted dryly again. "You ready?" He turned to Lillie.

"Right, well… I…" Lillie looked down at her feet, and Liam suddenly realized why.

"We should head to Hau'oli City first," Liam amended. "I can go Pokémon catching after that."

"No, it's okay. I can go back myself," she said firmly. "You shouldn't waste any time to get new teammates."

"Lillie, it's okay. Hau'oli City is not that far and-"

"I'll be fine!" Lillie exclaimed and immediately clasped her hands over her mouth in horror.

 _[Bzzt. It appears you two have had your first fight. I suggest you apologize first as this is technically your fault.]_

"Okay, not helping anymore." Lillie silently watched as Liam grabbed the Rotodex and shoved it back into his backpack.

"Sorry." Liam spoke up immediately, "I didn't mean…"

"No, I'm at fault here. I just… want to be more independent…" Both of them look at their feet, unsure how to remove the awkwardness in the air.

"Okay," Liam said finally, still feeling uneasy at the idea. "Just be careful." Oh no, he was still sounding like his mom. Urgh, how embarrassing...

"I could say the same to you. Oh, wait!" Lillie pulled out several items and pushed them into Liam's arms. "Here. Just in case."

Liam looked down and saw medicines like Potions, berries, Repels, and even an Escape Rope. "Wow, Lillie," he said, stunned, "I can't take all of this."

"It's fine!" Lillie insisted. "You need to be prepared in case something happens. I still got enough Repels to head back to the city."

Without hearing any more of it, she immediately turned toward the direction to Hau'oli City. "I will meet you at the Pokémon Center when you get back. I can't wait to meet your new teammates," she called out and quickly walked down the path.

"Don't worry. I'm sure they'll amaze you."

…

 _Southern part of Route 1_

The search had been fruitless for the past hour. Liam hadn't found any Pokémon that he wanted to team up with. He only had a couple of Poké Balls and though he had improved his throwing skills, he would need to stock up later if he wanted to catch anymore. It also didn't help that he had a irritating partner who wouldn't shut up.

 _[Common Pokémon that can be found in the area include Rattata, Pikipek, Ledyba-]_

"Yes, I heard you the first time. No need to repeat the list." Liam searched through the tall grass, but again, none of the Pokemon caught any of his interest. The Alolan Rattata here were different from Kanto's, but he didn't find any interest in catching one.

 _[There is a wide berth of Pokémon to choose from. Why are you so indecisive?]_

"Other than the fact that your computerized voice is scaring them off? There's the issue of compatibility. I can't just grab any random Pokémon if they don't like my fighting style."

 _[You have a fighting style?]_

Liam was about to make another retort when he noticed the ground was rumbling and shaking.

"What's going on?"

 _[Bzzt. Tremors. Alola has a volcano, but there is none on this island.]_

Wait… Liam squinted his eyes and saw in the distance a large cloud of dust kicked up in the air. He soon found out what was causing it.

It was that Tauros from earlier! Well, at least he was pretty sure it was. It took another long second for Liam to realize that it was heading towards him.

 _[Bzzt. Run.]_

"You don't need to tell me twice!" Liam immediately sprinted as the bull Pokémon came. He threw himself to the side just as the Tauros passed him and slammed into the pile of boulders.

"Owww…" Liam sat up, bruised. When he looked up, he saw Tauros still slamming its head against the broken pieces of rocks, now howling in pain.

 _[It's been poisoned.]_ Rotodex said, analyzing the status of the Pokémon. _[Probably from Poison Gas. Alolan Grimer are common here.]_

"Wait, I thought you said that they were common only on the school grounds. We're nowhere near there. Are you sure it's not some other Pokémon?"

 _[There are no other Pokémon here that can inflict Poison status.]_

Something didn't sound right, but the tearful cries distracted him from exploring the notion further.

Poisoned… Liam immediately rummaged through his bag. Yes! Thank you, Lillie!

 _[Bzzt. What are you doing?]_

"Well, I can't just leave it in pain," Liam said as he walked towards Tauros.

 _[You should leave. You have no experience in handling the situation. Get Kahuna Hala to take care of this.]_

There was wisdom in Rotodex's advice, but Liam didn't like being told off like a kid. Tauros was in pain, and he was going to do something about it.

"Hey Tauros, remember me?" Liam seriously prayed it did as he inched closer. Hearing Liam's voice, the Pokémon turned wildly until it spotted Liam.

"Not going to hurt you. Just want to get rid of that poison." Liam held up the Antidote. "See? This won't hurt you." It didn't charge, which was a good sign. Liam took another hopeful step, making sure to continue to be in its line of sight. Tauros shuddered as it stared, dazed with pain.

The area was deadly quiet besides the painful wheezing. Even Rotodex was in computerized fear.

"Here." Now close enough, Liam sprayed the antidote around its face, causing it to sneeze and to flap its ears. Soon after, the sickness cleared from Tauros' face. "There we go. Feeling better?"

"Mooooo!" Healthy now, Tauros immediately nudged his face against Liam's in thanks.

"Hey, stop!" Liam giggled as Tauros licked his face. It took a while for the excited Pokémon to calm down.

 _[I can't believe you did something so reckless. You could've gotten seriously hurt.]_

"Yeah, well, get use to it." Liam looked up and saw for the first time the path that had opened up behind the boulders.

A cave! Liam peeked in curiously.

 _[This is Ten Carat Hill. Usually inaccessible without a Ride Pokémon.]_

"Ride Pokémon?"

 _[Bzzt. Correct. They are Pokémon that are specifically trained to help people travel through dangerous terrain.]_

"MOOO!" Tauros bent its front legs and stared expectantly at Liam.

"You want me to get on?"

It nodded enthusiastically and motioned its head towards the dark cave.

"Okay, then let's check it out," Liam said, realizing that this was the ideal place to explore. He carefully climbed on, and Tauros immediately stood. Liam felt incredibly tall, perched on top of the bull Pokémon's back, but at the same time, it was a rather exhilarating feeling.

 _[Bzzt._ You don't even have any protective gear! _Are you crazy?! ]_

"Like I said. Get use to it."

 **Author's Notes**

Yes! Looks like we're catching new Pokemon. Sooner or later. LOL.

For those who celebrated, happy belated Thanksgiving. I was really lucky to spend time with my family this year and I hope everybody stuffed themselves with good food and turkey.

Also, who has played Ultra Sun/Moon? What did/didn't you like about it? Haven't played it yet, unfortunately, but will be as soon as I raise enough money. XP

Thanks for reading and I'll see you in the next chapter.

 **-JapanDreamer**


	11. New Development and Changes

Hi everybody! Happy New Years! I hope everybody is ready for the new year.

So, this chapter is shorter than usual, but only because I veered rather abruptly to a new direction in the story rather sticking to the old plan. Thanks, **Gossu** for providing that spark of inspiration in my story (though rather unintentionally. Lol.)

Enjoy!

Edit: Thanks **villomaru** for editing!

 **Chapter 11:**

Hau'oli City

"Oh, I need to apologize. But I already did, right? But…" She really should just let it go, but Lillie could not. She had spoken so rudely to Liam despite his offer to help. Why couldn't she have just properly declined instead of bursting out like that?

"CONGRATULATIONS! You are our 99,999th customer!"

"Huh?" Lillie looked up and realized that she found herself wandering to the front of the apparel shop. "I'm sorry, what?"

The lady in front smiled so brightly at the baffled Lillie. "As our 99,999th customer, we are offering you this free makeup bag and a free outfit of your choosing!"

"O-outfit?!" Before she could react further, Lillie found herself inside the colorful shop. Racks, tables, and hangers were all filled with a wide variety of Alolan shirts, tanks, shorts, dresses, hats, boots, sandals, and bags.

"Welcome!" All the shop clerks said enthusiastically. One of them even let off a small party cracker. The other customers looked up curiously from what they were doing and applauded when they saw what the celebration was all about. Lillie could feel herself turning quite red from the attention.

"Now, as the Hau'oli Shopping District manager, it is my great pleasure to offer you a selection of our popular clothes." She pointed to the ladies' section. "Let us know if you want to try on anything, and let us know what you want when you're done looking. Happy hunting!"

Happy hunting? Lillie stared at the area with renewed fright. The clerks were giving her space but it was also clear that they were waiting excitedly for her. She should be happy for winning such a lucky opportunity. She should go around and look at the wonderful array of colorful clothing. Maybe she could try on that red dress or that blue tank top. Those yellow sandals looked nice. She could-

"I don't want anything hideous to be near me."

"Lillie!"

She turned at the sound of the familiar voice.

"Hey! Congrats!" Hau waved from the entrance. "I saw what happened."

"Oh, Hau," Lillie said, relieved. Her hands felt clammy, and she desperately tried to stop them from shaking.

"Are you okay? Where's Liam?"

"Oh, he's catching some Pokémon," Lillie did her best to smile. "How about you?"

"I've finished eating the malasada here. It's really good. I got you and Liam some." He held up two deep-fried donut pastries wrapped in a bakery tissue. "I figure you and Liam hadn't had one yet. Try it, it's good!"

"Thanks, Hau." She accepted the pastry and took a bite. A sweet flavor filled her mouth. "You're right, Hau! This is delicious."

"I know, right?!" Hau grinned, munching on the one he was going to give to Liam. "Each island has a different flavor, so once we're finished here, I'm definitely going to Akala for theirs. Hey, have you figure out what you want to get?"

"Actually, I… umm…"

"What's wrong? I thought girls like this kind of stuff."

"It's not that," Lillie sputtered, her ears burning red. It felt like everybody's eyes were on her.

"What's wrong? You know you can talk to me." For once, Hau peered at her with a concerned look.

"I-I've always just worn clothes that my mother wanted me to wear," Lillie mumbled miserably, "I don't really know what kind of thing would suit me…" There was an awkward silence as Hau casually munched on his malasada.

"Excuse me!" He abruptly said, raising his hand high up in the air as though they were in school. His eyes were directed to the manager, who was organizing the shirts near the front of the store.

"Yes?"

"My friend here is having a hard time deciding what clothes to get. Is it okay if she comes back later?"

"Wait," Lillie whispered frantically, "Hau!"

"Of course," the manager nodded, not at all fazed by the question. "In fact, if she would like to, she can visit the other islands' apparel shops. Here, let me print a certificate so that the other stores know."

"See?" Hau grinned as the lady left, "Nothing to it."

"B-But…"

"Relax, I'll let Ally know about the good news, and she'll help you out. She has a keen eye for this type of thing. We can meet up with her at Akala after Liam and I finish the Melemele Trials here."

"You really think she will do that?" Lillie was grateful for the offer, but at the same time, she was embarrassed at the thought that she needed outside help to just have the confidence to try on clothes.

"Yeah, she loves shopping. In fact, she's probably done with her trials now and is enjoying a nice, long break."

…

 _Akala Water Trial…_

"Damn, it's so strong." Ally steered the Lapras away from another fresh wave of water that the Totem Pokémon caused. Rain pounded against her face as she tried to gather her bearings. Although her riding wear was waterproof, it wasn't a full body suit, and she shivered from the wind and cold that lashed against her skin. She could feel the trial captain staring at her from shore.

Ally stared helplessly at her Pokémon. All of them were down, except the newest recruit. The only problem is that this terrain was perhaps the worst choice for it. It was a rather stubborn Pokémon, trying desperately to swim to solid land. If only she had Liam's Rowlet, things would be so much easier. She would've caught more type-advantaged Pokémon if she knew what she was going up against.

But, where was the fun in that? Ally grinned, feeling the fire burning inside of her.

Her Pokémon refused to give up, so she wasn't about to do it either.

"I know we are at a disadvantage," she yelled over the thunder, "but I believe that we can still fight. Let's go, Litten!"

…

 _Farthest Hollow..._

"Whoa…" Liam gaped as he walked out the other end of the Ten Carat Hill tunnel. He didn't expect such a wide-open space. The entire area was encircled by large cliffs that scaled vertically to the blue sky.

 _[This is Ten Carat Hill. Specifically, the Farthest Hollow section.]_ Rotodex swooped around and started taking pictures of the scenery.

Following Liam, Tauros shook its head, causing its ears to flap from side to side, and was relieved for the fresh air. Unlike their first encounter, Tauros was the perfect gentleman, or gentle-mon, so to speak. It carefully walked through the cave, making sure the gearless Liam was sitting securely on its back through the whole journey. When they encountered a blockade of rocks, it made sure Liam had gotten off and hidden a good couple of feet away before it wreaked havoc and opened up the path again. It had been a rather interesting experience for Liam. Back in Kanto, trainers would need to catch Pokémon that had the ability to learn TM moves that could break these rocks. But here, there was no need as long as you befriended the local Pokémon.

"There have to be some good Pokémon here." Liam looked around.

 _[Bzzt. You are correct, shrimp. There are a few Kanto- and Hoenn-native Pokémon that can be found here like Machop and Spinda, but you can also find-]_

"Yes! Found it!" Liam exclaimed, not listening to a word Rotodex had to spit out. He had just randomly run through the first patch of grass and encountered a Pokémon immediately. It had floppy ears and a fluffy white tail.

 _[Rockruff? That's what you want?]_

"Yeah!" Ever since he'd encountered Professor Kukui's, Liam wanted to catch his own Rockruff. A strong and loyal Pokémon like that would be a good asset to his team. Plus, he kinda always wanted to have a puppy.

This Rockruff, in particular, was surprised to see a human trainer in this area and immediately jumped back, barking. Its blue eyes glared angrily.

"Okay, you want to battle?" Liam said, taking off his backpack and pulling out his Poké Ball. "Let's go, Rowlet, you're up!" Rowlet popped out and immediately hooted with delight at the prospect of battling.

"Rowlet! Leafage!" The owl Pokémon sent a spiraling shower of green leaves. The effective move caused Rockruff to howl in pain but it adamantly refused to lose. It gritted its teeth and charged forward.

"It's going in for a Tackle! Take flight!" Rowlet flapped its wings and gained altitude before Rockruff could hit it.

"Okay, I need to weaken it. I don't want it fainted, so the best thing to do is… Whoa! You learned Peck already?" Liam watched as Rowlet already made its move.

Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately), the flying move was rather ineffective against the rock-type. Liam decided to not mention anything as his excited Rowlet kept attacking the Rockruff with such tenacity.

 _[Hit it! To the left! Oh, now to the right!]_ Rotodex was clearly excited and invested in the battle, jabbing its mechanical arms left and right in midair. It was so invested that it forgot to provide any useful information.

"Okay, that's enough! Rowlet, fall back!" As soon as Rowlet backed off, Liam threw out an empty Poké Ball with all his might. It made a large arc before it landed on top of the weakened wild Rockruff.

"YES!" Liam raised a fist into the air as the Poké Ball opened and captured the dog Pokémon. It shuddered a couple of times before falling completely still and the familiar 'ding' resounded through the large area. "Way to go Rowlet! You did it!" The bird Pokémon puffed out its chest happily, accepting all the praises. Tauros mooed happily and gave Liam another happy lick.

 _[Don't forget about me. I provided tactical support.]_

"Tauros was way more helpful than you," Liam rolled his eyes as he waded through the tall grass. His first caught Pokémon! He would need to assess its moves first and figure out what kind of style of fighting they should incorporate. And there was also the matter of evolution. According to his research, Rockruff could evolve into two different forms, so he needed to figure out which would work better… If he could just find that Poké Ball. Where was that thing? He was ready to get on his hands and knees to search when it poked out in front of him.

"Oh thank-" Liam noticed that the Poké Ball was covered in smoke. "AHHH!" Liam flinched and fell backward.

"What the-?" Liam gaped as he realized that the Poké Ball wasn't on fire, but rather enclosed in the hand of a smoke-like creature. Standing on two legs, it poked out of the grass and into full view and held out the item, waiting patiently. It didn't seem to be dangerous and made no indication that it was going to attack.

Hesitantly, Liam reached out his own hand and took the Poké Ball. It blinked back curiously, fascinated at Liam as much as Liam was fascinated by it.

"Thank you… err…" He was at a loss for words. This was definitely a Pokémon he had never seen before and had no idea what to call it. But it looked like either a fire-type or ghost-type. Maybe both? "Rotodex? I could use some of that tactical support now."

 _[Bzzt, Pokémon unidentified.]_

"Unidentified? What do you mean uniden-? Why is it suddenly so cold?" Liam shivered from the drop in the temperature. He looked up and saw the sky darkened immediately.

"Oh shoot, is it going to rain? We need to head back." Liam got up and grabbed his backpack. Rowlet immediately hopped into the bag and poked its head out from the open top. "Come on Tauros! You too, errr… Smoky?" It was a lame name, but he had no idea what to call the wild Pokémon as it remained in its spot. It stared up at the sky, mesmerized by the sudden change in color from bright blue to dark gray. "Hey, come on! Fire doesn't go well with water! It wouldn't be good for you to get sick!"

A light flashed across the sky and there was a loud and deafening crack as though the sky split in half.

"MOOOOO!"

"Easy there!" Liam reached over to the agitated Tauros, who was clearly spooked. Liam tried to remain calm. He couldn't have Tauros run off all by itself. "Okay, okay, steady… steady… Come on, Smoky! Let's-"

Wait… Liam gaped at the bright, colorful light show above him. Shielding his eyes, he saw something that he couldn't describe. It was some sort of portal… or wormhole… or something like that. Whatever it was, it didn't look like it was a part of this world.

And something was coming out of it.

 **Author's Notes**

What could it be?! This mysterious Pokémon? The hole in the sky? What's going on? Let's hope Liam is prepared for whatever is up ahead. Good thing he caught a new Pokémon!

We also got to see Lillie, Hau, and even Ally! Everybody is off doing their own thing, but they are all important.

And I got some good news! I bought Ultra Sun as my Christmas gift to myself. LOL. Been playing it for a while now and really enjoy the game so far. And it is also a reason why I decided to veer off of my original storyline. But hey, we gonna see some cool stuff!

Well, I wish everybody a wonderful new year and I'll see you in the next chapter.

 **-JapanDreamer**


	12. Fight or Flight

Hi everyone!

Wow, it has definitely been a while. But the good news is that the school year is almost over! No more research papers and presentations. No more tests and quizzes. I can finally interact with sunlight! This is the end of the semester we have all been waiting for!

Anyways, this actually means that I will be starting to write again for fun! Expect more writing during the summer. This chapter was something I had started to write before the semester took over my life and I finally finished.

Thank you all for being patient and expect more writing in the future.

Thanks, **villomaru** for editing!

 **Chapter 12:**

Kahili frowned as she searched through the tall grass. She had been off her game today for some reason and had been missing every single shot. This time, she used too much power and sent her ball flying near the Ten Carat Hill cave. It was an embarrassing shot that she hoped no one had noticed.

Her hand wrapped around a familiar small golf ball and sighed in relief this time as she straightened back up. Route 1 wasn't an ideal place to practice golf with all of its tall grass, rocky ground, and uneven planes, but Kahili loved the challenge. Plus, it was a nice change of scenery compared to the resort.

She was about to head back when she noticed something different. The boulders that usually blocked the cave were broken recently, judging by the color. Kahill wondered what Pokémon had done this. The air suddenly turned chillier, and she shivered as gray clouds gathered. Odd, the weatherman didn't mention the possibility of rain today. She needed to fetch her jacket and head back before the rain came.

A flash of light brightened the sky, and a booming cannon sound blasted through the air.

 _That was loud,_ Kahili thought, bewildered. Then in the cave, there was a soft rumble that grew louder and louder. Widening her eyes in realization, she scrambled out of the way as groups of Pokémon came charging out – Zubat, Carbink, Mawile, and Sableye. They all had the same wild fear in their eyes. Before she could even comprehend the situation, she heard a rather loud howl from the cave. It echoed and reverberated against the rocky surface. She stared at the opening with uneasy fear.

 _What's going on?_

…

 _Don't breathe… don't breathe…_

Covering his mouth in fear, Liam tried to calm his pounding heart as he hid behind the large boulder where the tall grass wrapped around him. Cold sweat dripped from his back. He couldn't see it from his position, but the monster's large shadow had engulfed the entire area, casting darkness everywhere. It seemed to be searching for something and wasn't leaving until it found it. It snarled angrily and slammed its clawed hands into the ground, leaving a cracked imprint. Liam winced, trying to assess what had happened in the last fifteen minutes.

Tauros was a couple feet away. It had tried to fight against the creature but was immediately blown away by some powerful psychic attack. It hadn't gotten back up since. Rotodex had gone missing, and Liam hoped that wherever it was, it managed to escape to find help.

He clutched Smoky tightly in his arms. After that thing came out from the sky, Liam's first instinct was to grab the Pokémon and hide. Smoky was about the same size as Rowlet, but the hold was not the same. It was lighter, wispy, and cooler to the touch. Unlike Liam, the Pokémon didn't seem fazed or scared. It had the same curious look that it gave Liam, though, thankfully, it had remained silent this whole time.

Focus… Liam tried hard to breathe calm breaths without giving his position away. He needed to think. He had to get out of there, but he couldn't leave Tauros behind. He needed to get everybody to safety. To do that, what he needed right now was someone to watch his back.

"Rowlet," Liam whispered frantically to his Pokémon who had somehow been asleep through this whole ordeal. The sleepy Pokémon opened one eye and then hooted angrily when it saw that its spot with Liam had been taken over by a wild Pokémon.

"SHHH!" Liam whispered frantically, covering the Pokémon's beak before it could peck Smoky. "Rowlet, we're in serious trouble. I need your help." He paused, making sure the monster hadn't overheard. For now, it seemed like it was making its own great deal of noise to have noticed. Liam turned back to Rowlet.

"Tauros is hurt; I need to go help it. Can you watch my back? If that thing spots me, try to keep it distracted for a couple of minutes. I promise once Tauros is back on its feet, we'll get out of here as quickly as we can." He gulped. "If… If something happens, I need you to fly out of here and get help. No arguments."

The owl Pokémon blinked in confusion for a second before nodding. It hopped onto Liam's shoulder and turned its head 180 degrees so that it was staring behind him.

"Okay," Liam quickly crouched down and started to walk on all four. The grass was not tall enough to hide his entire figure, but hopefully, the monster's eyesight was poor enough to miss him. He was perhaps a good couple of feet away when Rowlet was digging its talons deep into his shoulder. Liam almost cried in pain before he realized something was terribly wrong. It felt like the time stopped. He then realized it was quiet, too quiet.

For the first time in that horrifying moment, Liam had a good look at the creature. Standing on two legs, the monster looked like some black origami beetle but was made out of crystal rather than paper. Its eyes were perhaps the scariest thing of all. There were none. Embedded in their place was glittering quartzes of all different colors.

Rowlet cut Liam's skin with its talon as it took flight.

"Hoot! Hoot!" A flurry of leaves shot at the creature's face and it growled in irritation. Rowlet continued to weave around the monster as it sent out another Leafage attack.

No longer needing to go into stealth mode, Liam ran and crashed through the tall grass until he reached the Pokémon.

"Tauros, hang in there," Liam grabbed a Potion from his bag and immediately sprayed the medicine onto the bull Pokémon. It gave a feeble moo and weakly opened its eyes. Liam took out another one and repeated the same process. Liam glanced up and saw that Rowlet was still attempting to distract the creature, though his Pokémon was more like an annoying fly to it.

"Can you stand?" Tauros slowly got to its hooves. "Okay, lean on me. We're going to make it. We just need to get to the cave and… NO!"

In its attempt to swat Rowlet, the monster slammed its clawed hands into the side of the hills, and stones came crashing down. Tauros threw itself over Liam and protected him from the falling rocks. It cried in pain but stood until the noise stopped.

"Tauros! Are you-?" It grunted and collapsed back onto the ground again. "No, no, no!" Liam tried to find another Potion in his bag but realized he used up all of the ones Lillie gave him. Now what? A dark shadow cast over him; Liam looked up to see the monster towering over him and, to his horror, reached out to him with its crystal claws.

"Mar!" Something cried out and stood in front of Liam.

"Smoky?!" No… something is different. The Pokémon's head turned into blazing forest green, and its eyes glared angrily at the monster before it. Before Liam could react, it sank into the monster's shadow.

"Wait! Where are you-?"

There was a thunderous blow from above and the monster howled in pain as it went down on one knee. Smoky dropped down from the sky and had two dark orbs in its hands. It threw the two orbs at the monster, but it had already recovered and shot up into the air. The monster was in pain from the previous attack but sent out the same powerful psychic move it used earlier on Tauros. Smoky was sent flying into the air, but it used the cliff's wall as a springboard and shot straight at the black monster.

Confused but realizing this was his chance with the distraction, Liam stumbled towards the cave entrance that was now blocked by the avalanche. He needed to move these rocks if they were to get out of here. However, he soon realized a dilemma. His arms were screaming in pain as he tried to pull one rock out from the mess.

Desperately, Liam looked around and considered his options. Smoky and Rowlet were busy keeping the monster distracted. Tauros was down… Wait! He had…!

"Rockruff!" The Pokémon came out and blinked in confusion from its Poké Ball and then stared in terror as it realized what was happening. "I need your help. Can you… destroy these rocks?"

"Grr…" Rockruff glared up at the monster with its fangs bared.

"Ruff! Ruff!"

"No, Rockruff!" But the Pokémon went after the creature that was attacking its former home. Great, Liam groaned. He couldn't even get his Pokémon to obey him.

Gritting his teeth in frustration, he realized that his last option was to get Tauros' help, but how was he going to do that? He had no Potions, but… maybe… He reached through the grass, hoping for some sort of herb or medicinal plant. Where is it? What was it supposed to look like? Roars and explosions rang in his ears as he tried to keep his mind focused.

He stumbled to the ground and tried to stop the burning tears from running down his cheek. He should've never come here. How did things turn out like this? He pushed himself up and spotted something glittering in front of him.

What is this? Liam immediately reached out for it and felt the smoothness of the blue crystal. Etched in the center was a pair of wings. The shape looked familiar… Could it be?

Liam immediately took out his Z-Ring and sure enough, the slot matched the shape of the crystal.

 _Your Z-Ring can draw out a mysterious power that lies deep within your Pokémon._

Without thinking any further, he inserted the crystal into his ring and prayed that Kahuna Hala was right.

"Come on, Rowlet!" He yelled and aimed the ring towards the general direction where Rowlet was hovering. However, the small Pokémon continued attacking without any change in power.

 _Why isn't it working?_ Liam desperately shook his Z-Ring. _Work! WORK!_

"KID!" Liam looked around wildly and saw a woman at the top of the broken cliff, high above where the rocks had fallen from. She had some sort of stick in her hand and wore rather sporty clothes. Right next to her was a familiar floating and slightly battered Rotodex.

"Help!" Liam yelled desperately, waving his hand. "Please! Tauros is hurt, and the entrance is blocked!"

"DO THIS!" She flapped her arms and shot up with her fist in the air. She repeated the movements over and over again.

 _What?! She wants me to… DANCE?!_

"The Z-Ring!" She yelled. "DO THE DANCE TO ACTIVATE IT!" The prism monster slowly turned around and spotted the female trainer. It lifted one of its arms, ready to strike.

"OH NO YOU DON'T!" Deciding to place his trust in her, Liam followed the movements. He flapped his arms and punched his first to the sky.

 _Please, please, please work!_

And as if the ring could hear his thoughts, Liam could feel the energy burning within him until it grew larger and larger, enveloping him. Gaping in shock, he saw the energy leaving him and wrapping around Rowlet. He didn't question this time. "GO, ROWLET!"

The little owl shot toward the sky at great speed, disappearing into the gray clouds. Then it was like the heavens opened up as a powerful blinding light crashed into the crystal beetle.

"Yes!" Liam gasped in relief, realizing he had been holding his breath the entire time. Rowlet stumbled to the ground, flying in a zig-zag pattern before Liam managed to catch it in the air. When the dust finally settled, the monster was still standing. "No…"

Wasn't the power supposed to take down the monster?

"MARRRR!" Smoky suddenly slammed straight into the monster's chest, causing it to topple over.

"Smoky!"

The creature snarled angrily as it shuddered from the attack. There was a thunderous boom and the same wormhole Liam saw earlier appeared. Before Smoky could react, the crystal beetle disappeared into the hole. And then just like that, the world seemed to have returned to normal – blue sky and warm breezes. It was like the monster never appeared.

Was it over now? Liam sank to his knees and breathed a sigh of exasperated relief. "Rowlet, are you okay?"

"Hoot, hoot!" The Pokémon said, sleepily. That Z-Ring attack clearly drained all of its energy and so it went back to sleep.

"Raff! Ruff!"

"Rockruff!" The little Pokémon stumbled over as well.

"Did you hurt your paw?" Liam gently took a look at the injury. "We'll get you to the Pokémon Center as soon as we can."

"Kid!" The girl had managed to find a way down the rockslide and hurried over to him. "Are you okay? What was that thing?"

 _[Bzzzt… I found this young lady outside of the cave and asked her to come… I'm… Bzzzt… sorry it took so long…]_ Rotodex looked apologetic for once.

"Thanks, Rotodex," Liam finally said, still trying to focus on the issue at hand. "I need to get to the nearest Pokémon Center. Tauros is hurt and Rockruff injured itself."

"Don't worry," the girl said, checking Liam for injuries, "I've called the helicopter. It should be here soon."

"Helicop…" Liam stared wordlessly as the buzzing sound grew louder and louder. He looked up in shock as the swirling wind from the rotating blades stung his eyes.

Today was just full of surprises.

 **Author's Notes**

WOOO! We've finally got some action. Looks like Liam is slowly learning about Z-ring and Z-moves. And what was that monster? What happened to it?

We also met Kahili! Good thing she was there to save Liam!

Question, what do you guys think of the Detective Pikachu game?

Thanks for reading and I'll see you in the next chapter!

 **-JapanDreamer**


	13. Resolving Issues and then Trouble

Hi everyone! It has been hectic for the last couple of months. Had a lot of things going on with my life. I have important news to share in the **Author Notes** section. (This news will also be on my profile page.)

Enjoy!

 **Chapter 13:**

The afternoon sun shone through the windows and gave a reddish glare across the living room floor. Liam watched as his newly caught Rockruff played fought with Kukui's. The two little Pokémon immediately became fast friends and were now tumbling over each other as they tried to get the upper hand. They growled and snapped at each other lightheartedly. Rowlet napped next to Liam, giving little hoots in its sleep once every so often. The peaceful moment made it feel like the terrifying near-death experience that occurred several hours ago had never happened.

Liam sighed and laid down on the sofa. His arm dangled above him as he watched the Z-Ring glittered in the light. The crystal – Kahili called it a Flynium Z – shattered after its first use, leaving the slot in the ring empty again. It was pure luck that he managed to even use it in the first place apparently, but Kahili did say that completing the Alolan trials will help him master the move.

It was a strange power, Liam thought as he glanced over at Rowlet. He never thought his Pokémon could have so much power.

"LIAM?!" The front door slammed open.

"Mom?" Liam's mouth opened in shock as he sat up, "What are you doing here?"

"What do you mean, what am I doing here?! Professor Kukui called and told me what happened!" She immediately went into her 'mother-mode' and inspected her son all over. "Did you get hurt? Where did you get injured? What were you doing out there?"

"Mommmmmm," Liam groaned, embarrassed. He could feel the stares from Professor Kukui's Pokémon. The two Luvdisc in the aquarium seemed particularly interested in the scene unfolding before them. Meanwhile, Liam's Rockruff walked over in trepidation and sniffed at the new arrival.

"Hey, you're here, Mom!" Professor Kukui waved, climbing up the stairs from his downstairs lab. "Sorry for the wait." He had a handful of just-developed photographs in his hand, and Rotodex floated next to him. It puffed out its little screen chest proudly.

"I saved and looked at the photos Rotodex took and to be honest… I am baffled. I've never seen such a Pokémon before. I'm sending a copy to all the other professors to see if any of them can shed some light."

"What about Smoky?" Liam immediately asked.

"Smoky? Oh no, not that one either…" Professor Kukui paused when he came across the photo of the small two-legged smoke creature. "Are you sure that this little guy didn't come with the bigger one?" He held up the picture.

"No," Liam shook his head, "I found it just before this. And then… it just disappeared…" Liam remembered how he shouted himself hoarse for Smoky to come as he climbed into the helicopter. However, the little creature never came. It simply vanished, like it was never there in the first place.

"Where's Kahili?" Kukui said, looking around.

"Kahili?"

"She was the one who helped me," Liam explained to his mom before turning to Professor Kukui, "At the Pokémon Center. She went to check on Tauros. I think she went to talk to the other Kahunas about what happened. She has no idea what to make of this."

"Well, I think it is safe to say that none of us have experienced or witnessed something like this before," Professor Kukui said, frowning. For once, he didn't look so laid-back and cheerful. "The creature in this picture…" He went back to the photo of the menacing dark beetle. It filled up the whole frame, and its glittering gem eyes sent a chill down his spine. "It does not look like any Pokémon I have seen or heard of before. And you said that it came out of the sky?"

"Well, not the sky," Liam amended, "But like from a hole in the sky."

"A hole?"

"Yeah… like those you see in those sci-fi movies…" Liam looked up expectantly at Professor Kukui, but for once, the man was grimly silent.

"I need to talk with my wife."

"Your wife?" Gloria looked confused.

"Oh yeah, her name is Burnet. Professor Burnet," Professor Kukui explained.

"Oh yes! We met at that party a year ago," Gloria said.

"She specializes in the relationships between Pokémon and other dimensions," Professor Kukui explained, "I'm pretty sure she would make use of the information."

"Wait, there are other dimensions out there? Where other Pokémon can exist? Like that beetle?" Liam imagined powerful creatures like the one he encountered and wondered if he should've tried to catch it. Now that the shock had worn off, the prospect of visiting and seeing new worlds and new Pokémon excited him.

"That's the theory," Professor Kukui shrugged his shoulders. "She can probably explain it better than me, but I think it is best that you and Lillie go meet her."

"No." This time it was Liam's mother who spoke.

"What?"

"I'm not saying you can't go, Liam. Just, wait until I have an off day and we can make the trip."

"Why do you need to be there?" Liam felt the familiar prickling of anger inside.

"Because you almost got yourself killed!"

"Mom, I'm fine. You heard what Kukui said. I was able to handle the situation!"

"This time," Gloria said, "You were very lucky, Liam. Who knows what would happen the next time?" She sat down, looking weary. Liam's Rockruff hopped onto her lap. "When you went on this journey, I never expected something like this to happen. Maybe it's best if you stay home with me until we figure out what's going on."

"Then what's the point of me coming all the way out here if I'm just going to be locked up?! You should've just let me stay in Kanto if you are afraid!"

"Okay, you two," Professor Kukui butted into the argument, "I understand how you both feel, so let me make a proposal. Why don't we, for now, hold off that meeting with Professor Burnet and let Liam continue with the Melemele Trial?" The two stared at him with the same confused look.

"I'm sorry, but how does letting Liam do the Melemele trial resolve this?"

"You can think of it as a test to show how much stronger he has gotten through the journey. If he can beat the grand trial here, then he is capable of getting stronger and handling any tough situations out there. In the end, you can decide whether you want him to continue after his battle with Kahuna Hala."

"But-!"

"Liam, I understand your frustration, but the fact remains that you are not an experienced trainer yet. Yes, you survived, but I would prefer to increase your chances of survival to more than just mere luck. Meet up with Captain Ilima and take on the first trial. It will definitely help you gauge what level you are at and convince your mother that you are responsible enough to take care of yourself."

Liam pressed his lips tightly together. Professor Kukui was really trying to help him out here, but still, his mother had the last say in all of this, no matter what. Would she even allow it? And what if, after all of this, she still said 'no'?

"Don't worry," Professor Kukui added to Gloria. "I'll make sure he gets back to Hau'oli City safely. Captain Ilima will look over his trial before sending him back here for Kahuna Hala's Grand Trial."

After a long, agonizing minute of silence, Gloria said, "Okay."

Liam blinked in surprise. Gloria looked like she regretted her final decision. "Liam, I want you to make sure to not wander off. Can you promise me that?" He nodded enthusiastically, itching to head to the door.

"Okay, you can continue with the trials, BUT you still need to prove to me that you are capable of taking care of yourself."

"Yes, mom." Liam immediately hurried to the door and paused for a moment before turning to Professor Kukui. "I'll wait outside. I won't wander off." Jumping off of Gloria's lap, Rockruff took sleepy Rowlet by the head and then followed after Liam.

[Wait for me!] Rotodex quickly floated after them.

"He is just like his father." Gloria sighed as she watched her son leave.

"Really? If you ask me, I think he is just like you," Professor Kukui said. He pulled out another stack of photos from his lab coat, placed them in Gloria's hands, and gave a polite nod before following Liam. Gloria looked down and slowly flipped through the photos.

…

Hau'oli City...

"Oh yeah, where is Lillie?"

"She came here. She wanted to explore the area." Liam wondered what kind of professor Kukui was if he couldn't even keep track of his assistant.

"Well, I better go look for her then," Kukui said as he glanced around the city. The street lamps were already lit, lighting the paved roads. "I'm actually more worried about her. You'll be okay from here?"

"Of course."

"Well, Ilima said he would meet up with you at the marina," Professor Kukui said, pointing to said place's general direction. "Just follow that road, and you'll find him."

"Thanks, Professor Kukui," Liam said quickly before following the path.

"Good luck, Liam!" Professor Kukui called out, but he was already long gone.

 _[Bzzt. I wonder what sort of challenges are in store for us.]_ Rotodex asked himself out loud as he floated above Liam.

"Doesn't matter," Liam said calmly. "The important thing is to win."

 _[But you need to go in with a plan.]_

"I'm pretty sure we'll be fine."

 _[I disagree.]_

"Well, what would you suggest?" Liam said, raising an eyebrow.

 _[Bzzt… training of course!]_

"Already did that. Remember?"

 _[Well… Bzzt…]_

"Careful. Don't want your hardware to fry. Just relax and let me handle it."

Walking along the shoreline, Liam slowed down slightly as he watched where the horizon and the sea touched in the far distance. The sun was large as it slowly set into the ocean and cast a reddish hue across the water. He was just here earlier with Hau and Lillie as they watched Ally leave on her adventures. So much stuff had happened in the last couple of hours. He soon spotted the familiar pink-haired trainer in the distance.

"Hi Liam," Captain Ilima called out with his usual smile. "Good to see you again. I heard about your little adventure."

"Yeah..."

"Are you doing okay?" Ilima observed him carefully.

"Yeah, totally fine." Liam wondered if this was what he would have to go through with every single person. He could only imagine the look on his friends' faces when they heard the news. Hau would be shocked and confused, not understanding a single word; Ally would be excited and impressed, wanting every little detail; Lillie… well, Lillie would be horrified. Though now that he thought about it, the Potions she gave him did save his life. He needed to thank her the next time they met.

"Yo, yo, YO! CHECK IT!"

Liam almost jumped out of his skin from the sudden outburst from the docks' entrance. Before he could comprehend what was going on, Ilima and he were standing face-to-face with two thug-like characters, wearing baggy black clothes. They wore matching black bandanas to cover their mouths, so the only thing people could see on their faces were their bug eyes. The only expensive accessory that they wore were silver 'S' pendants that hung loosely around their necks.

"Whenever, wherever we meet you, Team Skull don't even greet you! So, Cap, just give up the Pokémon, yo." The two threatened with their rhymes and changed their pose every two seconds like fashion models in front of the camera flash. If they thought it made them more menacing, it was failing quite badly.

Wait, Team Skull…? Are these people part of an evil organization?! Liam couldn't believe what he was hearing. He never suspected colorful and sunny Alola to have one. He remembered the horrors Team Rocket had caused back in Kanto, and the destruction they laid in two regions. Great… now his mom would definitely never leave him out of the house ever again.

"So, Liam, are you ready for your trial? We can get started right away if you want," Ilima continued as if he was never interrupted.

"What, what?!" The two Skull grunts were as stunned as Liam by Ilima's response, or rather his lack of response. "Why you trying to act so hard when we're already hard as bone out here, homie?"

I cannot understand a single word these idiots are saying, Liam thought.

 _[Bzzt. What an idiot.]_

"HUH?! What did you call me, you little brat?!" One of the Skull grunts glared at him.

"What? No! That's not me! It's the Rotodex!" Liam glared at the red device, wishing more than ever for that mute button.

 _[Bzzt. But that's what you were thinking too.]_

"Just because I was thinking about it does not mean I should say it! You need to be considerate of other people's feelings and not blurt everything out!"

"So, you DO think I am an idiot."

Oh, snap… Liam realized what his big mouth had led to.

"Hahaha," Ilima couldn't help but laugh. "That does describe your current level of mannerism and attitude."

"GRRRR! That's it! I'll show you, Mr. Trial Captain. And you too, brat! I'll take all of your Pokémon!"

"Oh, my… How terrifying…" Ilima shook his head pityingly. "Well, we are on a tight schedule, I'm afraid. Liam, take care of that one" - Ilima pointed to the grunt that Liam and Rotodex insulted - "I'll get rid of the other one. I know you'll do great!"

"But-!"

"Yo, check how I change the game with my mad Pokemon skills," the Skull grunt said with his Poké Ball already in hand. Before Liam could try to protest again, the Skull grunt had already sent out his Zubat. "Now pick up the pace son, so I can steal your Pokémon!"

Why me? Liam felt like crying now. Why is it that he kept getting himself thrust into situations like these?

…

Mount Hokulani was colder than she expected as she zipped up her jacket. Nothing but brown grass grew here. Her breath turned into mist before being carried off by the sharp and freezing wind. She needed to hurry and finish the job before the sun settled, and the path became too dark to see. A sharp ringing sound punctured through the howling wind, and when she picked up her Pokégear, she smiled at the number.

"Hey, Professor! How are you?"

"Quite well. How is your daughter doing?"

"Ally? She's fine. Adjusting rather well. And she made some new friends. She just called and told me that she finished the Water Trial and will be taking on the Fire one tomorrow. But I'm assuming that you didn't call specifically about my daughter." There was a long pause on the other end, and she knew she hit the mark.

"Actually, I'm here about a job." She sighed. No surprise there. Her jobs have been increasing in number ever since she moved here to Alola in search for unique Pokémon.

"Well, shoot me an email, and I'll fit you in my schedule."

"It's not that simple. This job… well…" He explained it as carefully as possible.

"You don't know if it is a Pokémon?"

"I don't know what it is. I've sent pictures to you, but all of us agreed that we should keep this as quiet as we can." There was a rush of static before he continued, "We don't want to stir up unnecessary fright. A young trainer was almost killed. I'd prefer if you kept an eye out and if you hear or see anything…"

"Right," she said, not needing him to finish, "Don't worry. I'll take care of it."

Author's Notes

AHHH! Ally's mom! How exciting! :D

Hope everyone is having a good summer. I have some important news to share about my current writing status.

To be honest, during the past few months (actually this may have started even before then), I lost my motivation to write. Writing became more of a chore than something fun that I wanted to do. As I mentioned earlier, so many things were happening in my life that required me to change my path. I was letting my readers down in doing so, especially when I am in this sort of limbo. Realizing this, I had to take a step back and decide if I wanted to continue writing at all. Should I just call quits?

After some time thinking and pursuing other hobbies for a while, I decided that I do want to write, but I definitely cannot write at a definite pace like I used to. I'm moving to a more 'sporadic' form of updates. This means that stories may update but the date is unknown. Updates will be even slower than usual. I know that this will be frustrating, but please understand that with everything that has been going on with me, I am moving through another chapter of my life, and although writing is something I still want to do, it isn't something that I have the time to do. I want to continue to write quality works.

Thank you all who understand.

 **-JapanDreamer**


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